MUNSTER | Seventh heaven. Twenty-nine and feeling fine.
The platitudes were plentiful on the Munster tennis courts Wednesday afternoon, when the Times No. 1 Mustangs defeated Crown Point 5-0 to win the regional championship.
It was the seventh consecutive regional title for the Mustangs and their 29th overall. According to IHSAA records, Munster has won more regional titles than any other high school.
The doubles teams led the way for Munster, recording the first two points.
"We knew Crown Point had a good doubles team," No. 2 doubles player Nathan Kondumuri said. "We knew we were going to have to make good serves in order to stay on top of them."
Kondumuri's partner, Taha Qureshi, felt the tandem's volleys were the difference.
"We hit our volleys very well today," Qureshi said. "We watched Crown Point play a couple of weeks ago, and knew we would have to volley well today. Fortunately, we played our game well."
Coach Steve Lopez felt good about where the team is at heading into Saturday's showdown with No. 1 Carmel.
"All five courts played well today," Lopez said. "We took care of business and didn't leave anything to chance. I was especially pleased with our doubles play. Both doubles will have to do well Saturday for us to have a chance."
The Bulldogs ended their season at 16-4, and ranked No. 3 in the Times poll. Three of their four losses were to Munster and Valparaiso.
"I was happy with the way we finished the season," C.P. coach Chris Korzeniewski said. "Every one of our players believed they could win and played like it right to the final point. That's really all you can ask for. They did themselves and the school proud."
In the individual sectional, Luke Sanderson (Kankakee Valley) blanked Joe Dickerson (Lake Station) 6-0, 6-0. At doubles, Hobart's Chris Moore-Jacob Erlich downed E.C. Central's Edmar Rivera-Guillermo Cabrera 6-2, 6-1.
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