Shelbyville got control early in the championship match of the IHSAA tennis sectional Friday then had to fend off a scrappy Triton Central squad for a 4-1 victory and a berth in the Center Grove Regional.
The Golden Bears (14-10) will take on Perry Meridian Tuesday in the semifinal round of the regional tournament. The other regional semifinal will feature Franklin Central and No. 7 Center Grove.
The regional championship match is scheduled for Wednesday.
Shelbyville’s Aidan Asher and Logan Prickett started quickly at No. 1 singles and No. 3 singles, respectively, and rolled to straight-set victories.
Asher (15-9) topped Tucker Hutchinson (16-5), 6-2, 7-6 (1).
Prickett pushed his record to 14-7 with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Cole Thomas (15-6).
At No. 1 doubles, Triton Central’s Ben Toth and Griffin Sego slowly pulled away from Aiden Smith and Caden Claxton, 7-5, 6-4, which earned them a spot in the state doubles tournament, which starts next week at Center Grove.
Toth and Sego are 14-5 this season.
That left matches at No. 2 singles and No. 2 doubles as the swing matches.
Shelbyville’s Caden Tackett fell behind early at No. 2 singles against Avram Rund but rallied to win the first set and then controlled the second set for a 7-5, 6-3 victory. With a pair of wins in the sectional, Tackett evened his season record at 10-10. Rund ended his season at 12-9.
Karson Schaf and Reece Prickett had an even tougher battle with Triton Central’s Oliver Gearlds and Joey Brosnan but won a tiebreaker in the first set and an evenly-contested second set, 7-6 (6), 7-5.
Schaf and Prickett improved to 17-5 while Gearlds and Brosnan, who did not start the season as playing partners, finished 10-2.
Shelbyville reached Friday’s sectional championship match with a 5-0 victory over Morristown (5-10) Thursday. The Golden Bears lost a total of two games in sweeping the Yellow Jackets.
Triton Central (16-5) swept Southwestern Thursday in the other sectional semifinal match. Cole Thomas accepted a forfeit at No. 3 singles and the Tigers lost only five games over the remaining four matches.
