INDIANAPOLIS — For the third time in Delta girls tennis history, the Eagles reached the state final four.
The No. 15 team in the state pulled off another upset of a top-10 team by taking down No. 8 Munster in the IHSAA state quarterfinals at North Central High School on Friday, June 5. The Eagles previously defeated No. 10 Westfield in a regional championship and No. 18 Homestead in a semi-state championship to reach the state finals.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the first state championship appearance in Delta tennis history was not meant to be, as No. 3 Carmel won a 4-1 result in the state semifinals. Nevertheless, the Eagles’ 2026 girls are only the fifth out of coach Tim Cleland’s 67 Delta tennis teams to reach the state final four, joining the 2000 girls, 2004 boys, 2014 boys and 2022 girls.
“Final four in the state in a one-class tournament is amazing,” Cleland said. “We’ve beaten two top-10 teams in the last week, so we’re not doing it with an easy route, that’s for sure. … There’s all these things that go into it, but five times in the final four, whether you’ve been at it 67 seasons or 167 seasons, that’s pretty good.”
Stella Sieber the hero of quarterfinals victory over Munster
The action began with an early-morning showdown with Munster. The match was one of the quickest quarterfinal matchups of the day, as the Mustangs made quick work of No. 1 and No. 2 singles, while the Eagles did the same at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles.
Delta’s doubles teams have been exceptional this season, and that trend continued against the Mustangs. Senior Kate Manor and junior Alexa Bratton won, 6-2, 6-0, over Munster sophomore Krisha Parikh and freshman Grace Nierengarten at No. 1 doubles, while seniors Elizabeth Bamidele and Rowan Hinds stayed undefeated on the season with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Munster sophomore Sophia Zilz and senior Lila Labahn at No. 2 doubles.
Those victories gave the Eagles a combined 50-2 record this season for their doubles teams, including a perfect 26-0 record for Bamidele and Hinds.
“Our doubles have done it all year … and that’s against eight state-ranked teams,” Cleland noted.
While the Eagles’ strength is their doubles, the Mustangs flourished at singles. Munster sophomore twins Priyanka and Pallavi Tallamraju only surrendered one game combined at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively. Delta freshman Sophie Crabtree lost, 6-0, 6-0, to Priyanka at No. 1 singles. Pallavi’s 6-1, 6-0 win over Delta senior Olivia Marshall at No. 2 singles tied the match at 2-2 at the time.
That left senior Stella Sieber to carry the weight of Delta’s season on her shoulders at No. 3 singles. She started strong with a 6-1 win in the first set, but Munster sophomore Berlyn Compton jumped out to a lead in the second. Sieber rallied to force a 6-6 tiebreak, which she cruised through at 7-1 to clinch a 6-1, 7-6 (1) victory and punch her team’s ticket to the final four.
“I definitely felt some pressure, but I just tried to not let it get to me,” Sieber said. “Even though there was a big crowd watching, I just wanted to play my best and play calmly, which I feel like helped me win. She’s a very aggressive player, so my biggest strategy was just keeping the ball deep so she could not have the shots that she wanted.”
Greyhounds too much for Eagles in state semifinals
Delta wrapped up its quarterfinal match around noon, but a top-five matchup between No. 3 Carmel and No. 5 Center Grove on the other half of the bracket took nearly four hours to finish as both No. 2 and No. 3 singles matches went into third sets.
Although Carmel likely entered the semifinal match with much more fatigue than Delta, the Greyhounds eliminated the Eagles with a 4-1 win. Sieber gave Delta its lone point, cruising past Carmel sophomore Annie Mann with a 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 3 singles.
The Greyhounds got their first two points from the doubles matches. Seniors Gabby Hall and Maddie Littell clinched the first point of the match with a quick 6-0, 6-3 win over Manor and Bratton at No. 1 doubles, handing the Eagles’ duo their first loss since May 15. Bamidele and Hinds put up a much closer fight at No. 2 doubles, rallying back from early deficits in both sets, but they ultimately lost their first match of the season, 7-5, 6-4, to Carmel junior Brylie Price and sophomore Shravya Pillutla.
“Both of their doubles teams, and our No. 2 doubles, were undefeated for the season,” Cleland said. “Something has to give in that situation.”
Like Munster, the Greyhounds also featured twin sisters at No. 1 and No. 2 singles. Carmel officially clinched the match at No. 2 singles when senior Alexia Widjaja defeated Marshall, 6-3, 6-4.
At No. 1 singles, Crabtree dueled through an hour-and-40-minute first set with senior Olivia Widjaja, who eventually won, 7-6 (6), after a long tiebreak. Crabtree lost the second set, 6-1, but the match had been decided by the time that set began.
“I’m very proud of (Crabtree) because that’s a lot of pressure on a young player in that setting,” Cleland said. “As the team match was decided, I think she lost a little bit of fight, which is normal. She knew the season was over, she’s already lost in the individual stuff, so to be able to grind to the absolute end there, she had to have every ounce of strength in her body, and at some point, she just got tired.
“But I guarantee if the match had still been 2-2, she’d have been fighting for another three hours.”
‘We’ll miss Delta tennis’
Five of Delta’s seven varsity starters saw their Eagles careers come to an end Friday, with Bamidele, Hinds, Manor, Marshall and Sieber all seniors set to graduate. They excelled in the classroom — Marshall and Sieber earned academic all-state, and Bamidele is a Lilly Scholar.
They also excelled in other sports — Marshall and Bamidele in basketball, Manor in volleyball, and Bratton, Sieber and Manor in cheer.
“The thing that’s underestimated is the character of the athletes,” Cleland said. “Our kids are high-character. Good parents, smart, coachable, all the things that you’ve got to have to really put runs together. I’m really proud of them — they gave us themselves, gave our whole program everything they had.”
Manor and Hinds have played varsity No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, respectively, since their freshman year and will graduate as the top two winningest players in the history of Delta girls tennis. Manor sits atop the leaderboard with 96 career wins, and Hinds holds second with 90.
“We’ve been best friends playing together since kindergarten or first grade,” Hinds said. “It was just a crazy, really surreal experience. I feel like none of us even realized until our senior year, and then we’re like, ‘Oh, we could actually get this.’ It was just a great feeling.”
Even as they move on to the rest of their lives, the Eagles’ seniors know they are leaving Delta girls tennis in good hands.
“Everyone that’s ready to play is ready to play,” Manor said. “I’m really confident in what they can achieve, and all the girls that practice with us are just as ready.
“I’m going to miss all these girls. We’ll miss Delta tennis.”
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Delta girls tennis magical season ends in IHSAA state semifinals
Reporting by Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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By Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press | USA TODAY Network
