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The 55th Annual IHSAA Boys Tennis State Finals saw a record-setting performance by the top-ranked Carmel team.

With a 5-0 shutout of sixth-ranked Zionsville in the state championship match, the Greyhounds claimed their sixth consecutive state title breaking a tie with North Central of Indianapolis which had won five straight from 1982 to 1986.

The Greyhounds, coached by Bryan Hanan, turned back North Central 4-1 in the quarterfinal round on Friday and Columbus North 5-0 in the Saturday morning semifinals.

Carmel (24-0) was led by its No. 1 doubles team of Jack Jentz and Srisanth Malpeddi which won all three of its matches including a 6-0, 6-3 over Zionsville's Ryan Betz and William Cramer in the final. The pair remained undefeated this year and will compete in next weekend's doubles state tournament. Malpeddi will look to win his second doubles title having teamed with graduated Jones McNamar to the win state title last year.

Zionsville (19-4), coached by Earl Allen, was making its fifth appearance in the state finals and advanced to the championship match for the second time (2008). The Eagles had beaten Covington 5-0 in the semifinals and Jasper 4-1 in the semifinal round.

Friday's quarterfinal matches were all played indoors at facilities across central Indiana due to heavy rains throughout the day before resuming outdoors on Saturday at Carmel High School for the final two rounds.

Columbus North Doubles Player Receives Mental Attitude Award
Matthew Liu of Columbus North High School was named the recipient of the Mental Attitude Award following the final match.

Liu played No. 1 doubles for the Bull Dogs finishing with a 17-5 record this season with partner Amrit Kar and helping Columbus North reach the state finals for the fourth consecutive year.

He ranks at the top of his senior class academically with a 4.32 GPA, is a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, and a National AP Scholar with Distinction.

Matthew is the son of Tom Liu and Lijun Tian of Columbus and is interested in studying chemistry but is undecided on his college choice.

Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance presented $1,000 to the school's general scholarship fund in the name of Liu.