All season long, Bloomington South boys tennis coach Matt Corry would take his best freshman and stick him at the top of the singles order.
Turns out there was a method to his madness and a huge, huge payoff in the championship match of the Plainfield Regional on Wednesday against No. 22 Avon.
“It’s something where you make a decision and you wonder why do that?” Corry said. “My job is to invest and build these players. And to see who he was out there and when he was playing those guys at North Central early in the season, the discipline, the growth and the fight is phenomenal.”
The Orioles won the top two singles spots, then No. 10 South countered by outlasting Avon in both doubles matches. That suddenly left freshman Caleb Lian, who had dropped the first set at 3 singles 7-6(6) and found himself trailing 4-5 in the second, to save the day — with his brother’s racket.
That’s a big ask, but so was putting him up against players from Carmel and other top squads this season, shifting David Ciucu to doubles, before Lian settled into the third spot for the postseason. And this was no country club environment. The atmosphere was as raucous as at any basketball regional.
“(Avon) came out loud,” Corry said. “Everybody was loud and obnoxious. We were facing a wall of energy and testosterone.”
But Lian fought past it all, even some gamesmanship, to pull off an improbable rally and then played almost flawlessly in the third set to claim a 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-0 win that covered nearly four hours, giving South a 3-2 team victory and a spot in the Jasper Semistate next Saturday against No. 8 Evansville Memorial.
After the last point, the team charged the court and hoisted Lian on their shoulders in loud celebration as he hoisted the regional trophy, South’s first since 2012.
“This is something that hadn’t been done in a long time, not in my nine years here,” Corry said. “We’ve not been able to achieve it. I told the guys I would take this kind of match all day long because it showed who they are and what they’re made of. We grew today. This is a program shaping win.”
Surge to the finish
Ciucu went down 6-1, 6-2 at 1 singles and the Alex Busch looked like he’d rebounded in the second set at 2 singles, leading 5-2. But that injured foot couldn’t handle matches on back-to-back days and he fell 6-1, 7-5. Lian was soon down a set.
South needed a momentum shift and got it at both doubles spots.
Connor Couch and Josh Sang took a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 1. At No. 2, Abe Corry and William Liao fought off early jitters to win the first set and trailed 1-4 in the second before gathering steam to claim a critical 7-6(4), 7-5 win.
At some point late in the second set, all four of the rackets Lian had in his bag had broken strings, forcing him to borrow one from his brother. Unfazed, he carried on. Down 5-4, with his opponent cramping, Lian battled back, through a championship point, to force a third set.
After a 10-minute break, Lian came out firing going up 3-0 without losing a point, at which time his opponent needed a bathroom break, a long walk away. “I think it was a way to try and get into his head,” Corry said. Ten minutes later, Lian went back to work and lost only two points in posting the decisive 6-0 win.
“He showed what kind of growth he’s made this year,” Corry said. “They all overcame. I’m really proud of them.”
Tuesday: South 4, Terre Haute North 1
South had a much less dramatic win in the semifinals on Tuesday.
All three of South’s singles matches were over relatively quickly as Busch rolled 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 and Lian won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 with Ciucu downed 6-3, 6-2 at the top spot leaving a 2-1 lead.
In doubles, Corry and Liao won 6-4, 7-6(5) after trailing 5-6 in the second set. Couch and Sang had their hands full at the top spot before pulling out a thrilling 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Fearless freshman helps Bloomington South tennis win regional title
