Boys Tennis

The Zionsville boys tennis team placed sixth in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference tournament Saturday, Sept. 15, at Brownsburg.

The Eagles best finish came at No. 3 singles when Nick Ceryak placed third in the bracket with a 2-1 record.

Zionsville had three fifth-place finishes. At No. 1 singles, Josh Axelson placed fifth, at No. 2 singles Carson Skelly was the fifth-place finisher and at No. 1 doubles Ben Huber, Sean Middleton and Aaron Nichols combined to form teams that placed fifth. All three positions finished with 2-1 records.

At No. 2 doubles, Brock Eibling, Josh Geiser and Sam Pinegar combined to place seventh.

Axelson and Ceryak earned All-Conference recognition for their efforts.

Earlier in the week on Thursday, Sept. 13, the Eagles defeated West Lafayette 3-2 on senior night.

At No. 1 singles, Axelson defeated Lucas Owen 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.

At No. 2 singles, Carson Skelly defeated Chris    Park 2-6, 7-6, 6-1.

West Lafayette’s Alan Min defeated Nick Ceryak 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

At No. 1 doubles, Ben Huber and Sean Middleton defeated Andre Woloshuk and Tommy Krause 1-6, 7-6, 6-2.

At No. 2 doubles, the Red Devils George Chien and Mika Reuhs defeated Aaron Nichols and Eric Bruin 6-1, 6-1.

“This might be my favorite victory of the season,” Zionsville head coach Matt Moore said. “We talk on and on about the need to pull off victories in close matches. With four of the five varsity matches going three sets, we won three and fought tirelessly in the fourth. 

“Our determination, fight, and scrappiness allowed us to outperform our competition.”

Cross Country

The Zionsville cross country teams participated in the loaded FlashRock Invitational Saturday, Sept. 15.

On the girls side, 13 of the 26 teams that participated were in the latest top-25 poll. For the boys, 14 of the 26 partcipating teams were ranked.

The 19th-ranked Lady Eagles had the best finish of the Zionsville teams, placing 12th.

“This meet serves as an accurate preview of what we could expect should we advance to the semi-state meet in October,” Zionsville head coach Doug Showley said in an email. “We’ll still need to make some progress between now and then, but we believe we have it in us to do what it takes.”

Becca Uebele was the top Zionsville finisher, placing 37th overall in a time of 19:38.  Sydney Meyers also had a top-50 finish, placing in 44th in a time of 19:47.

Samantha Mitchell (73rd, 20:16), Courtney Sampson (103rd, 20:39), and Marianna Kastberg-Leonard (111th, 20:48) rounded out the scoring quintet.

Also running for the Eagles’ varsity were Carly Whitesell, Emily Brothers and Lauren Munley. They placed 140th, 162nd and 184th respectively.

The boys placed 16th overall.

Mason Herhusky was the top finisher for Zionsville, placing 36th in a time of 16:19.

Adam Corya (91st, 16:50) and Brian Rice (96th, 16:54) also placed in the top-100.

Max Gernhard placed 115th in a time of 17:08 and Max Leeds placed 121st in 17:10 to round out the scoring Eagles.

Also running for the varsity were Andrew Brake, Tyler Keen, Ryan Cash and Ty Abbitt.

Volleyball

The Zionsville volleyball team went 2-1 in the Ben Davis Invitational Saturday, Sept. 15.

In the opening match, the Eagles lost to East Central 15-25, 25-17, 15-11.

Maren Braun had nine kills and 10 digs. Lauren Potoczek added five kills and Emily Vanatsky had four kills.

Keegan Kollias had 21 assists and Allie Murphy had 14 digs.

In the second match of the day, Zionsville defeated Batesville 25-10, 23-25, 15-9.

Braun had eight kills and 11 digs and Potoczek added seven kills.

Carlie Vannatta and Vanatsky each had four kills. Kollias had 22 assists and 11 digs while Murphy added 15 digs.

The Eagles defeated Ben Davis 25-15, 25-15 in the final match.

Thursday, Sept. 13, Zionsville lost to HCC foe Westfield 25-19, 25-11, 25-14.

Braun had 10 kills and 11 digs.

MacKenzie Mellinger had 14 digs and Cyra Bammer had 10 digs. Kollias had 20 assists.