Jordan Kartholl/The Star PressKaylin Gibson practices with teammate Teaghan Dishman at Delta Wednesday morning. Kaylin Gibson practices with teammate Teaghan Dishman at Delta High School Wednesday morning.
Even with Delta’s long history of success in the postseason, heading to state will always be a different sort of stage.
The Eagles doubles duo of Teaghan Dishman and Kaylin Gibson learned that, felt that, on the courts at Park Tudor for Friday’s semifinal match against Allison Henry and Laine Rumreich of Lawrence North. Yet the Delta crew still prevailed.
“State is definitely a different atmosphere than any of our other matches,” Dishman said in a telephone interview. “It was, I guess nerve-wracking to get into it a little bit.
“We were down 0-2 and in a very crucial game where we needed to get it. It was constant back-and-forth and we ended up getting that game to make it 1-2. I think that really helped us get into it.”
The 7-5, 6-3 win sent Dishman and Gibson (24-3) on to a 10 a.m. Saturday showdown against Floyd Central’s Alexis Applegate and Erin Patterson. That duo is 19-4 on the season and gave the Eagle pair one of their three losses on the season in a three-set match.
Applegate and Patterson reached the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3 win against Mississinewa’s top pairing. The other semifinal pits Carmel’s undefeated team against a pair from Seymour.
Dishman and Gibson are the 16th doubles team of either gender from Delta to reach state. Five of those groups made it to the finals, though none won the title.
Delta coach Tim Cleland said nerves affected both teams in Friday’s match, and his charges are excited for another shot at one of the few teams that beat them.
“Bottom line is we have very similar records, very similar results,” Cleland said. “When we played, it was a close match, could have gone either way. So we will tee it up … see what has changed, if anything.
“When you lose a close match, I think if you’re a competitor, you want another chance, and our girls have been talking about that for a while.”