INDIANAPOLIS — With steady rain on Saturday, the venue of the IHSAA Boys Tennis Individual Regional tournament changed, along with the time, but Adam Koon’s play did not.
At Indianapolis Racquet Club, rather than the originally scheduled location of Fishers High School, the Mt. Vernon senior made quick work of his two opponents to not only become a regional champion, but become the first boys tennis state finalist in school history.
“God is good, and this feels good, but there’s not too much to be happy about yet,” Koon said. “The job’s not finished.”
Koon swept his opponent in both the semifinal and championship matches and lost just five games all day.
In the first match of the day, he defeated Heritage Christian senior Zach Lemming for the second straight postseason, 6-3, 6-1. At last year’s team regional, Koon defeated Lemming 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the individual sectional finals.
“It did help to play him again, but at the same time that match was over a year ago. I just trusted in my game, my beliefs, and what coach [Mt. Vernon coach] Graham [McMullen] taught me to do,” Koon said. “I wasn’t worried about my opponents, just what I was going to do. That’s how I’ve been playing this whole season.”
In the finals, he took down Roncalli junior Christopher Stanley just as easily, 6-0, 6-1. Stanley advanced with an 0-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Southwestern’s Brayden Helton.
“They were both tough opponents. Nobody at that point in the tournament is going to be a walkover win,” Koon said. “My scores were pretty good for me, and I just felt really dialed in.”
After an individual sectional finals loss last year to Fishers’ Reese Knoderer, Koon entered this season knowing that he still had more to prove.
Already one of, if not the best player in program history, he has done just that. Along with being the first state finalist, he broke the school record for wins in a season. His two wins on Saturday pushed his record to 24-3 on the year.
Koon will look to keep things going at this weekend’s state finals. He will open up play on Friday in quarterfinal match No. 3 against an undefeated opponent, Culver Academy’s’ Tyler Li (18-0; 7-0). The match is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Park Tudor. With a win Koon would advance to the semifinals on Saturday at 10 a.m. The state championship match will be played Saturday at 2 p.m.
“He’s [Li] going to be a tough opponent. It’s going to be fun, and it’s going to be a dog fight,” Koon said. “I want it to be cold, I want the ball to feel heavy, the legs to feel heavy, and it to just be tough for both of us.”
Bloomington North’s Connor O’Guinn (13-6; 6-0) and Guerin Catholic’s Max Fuller (15-3; 5-0) will face in quarterfinal match No. 1, while North Central’s Alex Antonopolous (22-0; 7-0) and Columbia City’s Alex Rongos (19-1; 5-0) will play in match No. 2. The winners of matches two and three will face in the semifinals, while the winner of match one will take on Columbus North’s Hank Lin (13-0; 8-0).
