HS tennis: Saint Joseph rolls to semistate championship

CULVER — Nothing was going to stop the mega-talented Saint Joseph's girls tennis team from its third straight semistate championship Saturday.

Not even some illness making its way through coach Bill Mountford's exceptional lineup.

The No. 1 ranked Saint Joe squad rolled past Crown Point 5-0 to win the Culver Academy Semistate Saturday afternoon at the Gable Tennis Center.

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Saint Joe, now 17-3, will return to the State Finals Friday for the third straight season. Saint Joe will face No. 3 Jasper on Friday at noon at Center Grove High School in a quarterfinal matchup. The semifinals and finals are set for Saturday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., also at Center Grove High School.

Saint Joe, which lost to Carmel in the state semifinals last year and to the Greyhounds in the state title match in 2021, lost 3-2 to Jasper in April this season at Jasper. But they were also without star No. 1 singles player Molly Bellia at the time. Saint Joe beat Jasper 3-2 in the quarterfinal round at the State Finals in 2022.

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Saint Joe, which beat Carmel 3-2 this season, has just one loss to an Indiana team (Jasper) and a pair of losses to two powerhouse programs from Kentucky this spring. They lost 3-2 to McCracken County (Kentucky) and 5-0 to Kentucky defending state champion Sacred Heart Academy, both in April. Bellia did not play in any of Saint Joe's three losses this season.

Carmel, now ranked No. 2, beat host Culver Academy 5-0 Saturday in the other semistate match at the Academy.

The Saint Joe singles lineup of junior Bellia and sisters Ashi and Anni Amalnathan were their stellar selves again on Saturday. The trio lost a total of four games as each. All three are now a perfect 16-0 on the season at their current positions in the lineup.

Sophomore Anni Amalnathan led the way with a 6-0, 6-0 win on the No. 3 singles court. Sister Ashi, a junior, won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles play and Bellia, who was the No. 1 singles state champion in 2021, won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1. The Amalnathan sisters were the No. 1 doubles state champions last year and played No. 1 and 2 singles earlier this season when Bellia was sidelined due to injuries to her feet.

Bellia has committed to play at the United States Naval Academy, where coach Mountford played. Her mother Tricia, who is an assistant coach along with Dan Rogers, played tennis at Harvard.

Saint Joe had defeated Crown Point 5-0 earlier this month at its Smash Cancer event at Leeper Park in South Bend.

"Overall, I was pleased with our play today," said coach Mountford in a phone interview Saturday after the win. "Crown Point played us tougher this team and that's a credit to their coach.

"We have some illness going through the team as we had like four players out there coughing today that we had to deal with. But better this week than next week. We just need to get some rest.

"I thought that our girls played well and took care of business. We had seen Crown Point before and there was no pressure on them. We're just thrilled to be going back to State again. All is good."

Saint Joe, which beat NIC foe, rival and No. 19 Penn 5-0 Wednesday to win the LaPorte Regional title, completed the shutout with strong doubles play again Saturday.

The duo of junior Dani Graham and senior Gracie Velasco won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles action. The duo of seniors Maggie Nguyen and Lily Mayfield won 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 at No. 2 doubles play. Graham and Velasco improved to 13-4 and Nguyen and Mayfield moved to 12-3.

Saint Joe was going to forego its normal celebration of post match ice cream on Saturday according to their classy coach and team bus driver.

"Actually, no ice cream today," said Mountford as he prepared to chauffeur his squad back home to South Bend Saturday afternoon.

"Lily (Mayfield) is having a pasta party at her house for the team tonight."