The Irish, 10-11 overall and unranked in the final regular-season Indiana High School Tennis Coaches Association state poll, swept their way to the Section 27 title with 5-0 victories over Arsenal Tech and Heritage Christian before sweeping the North Central regional with 5-0 victories over Franklin Central and North Central. “You’re always going to get a battle from North Central,” Giles said. “We knew that would be a challenge no matter who we faced.” The Irish’s season ended with 3-2 loss to Columbus North (No. 19 in the final HSTECA rankings) at the Center Grove semi-state round. “We stayed the course,” Giles said. “We reached our goal of making it to semi-state, which was the same place our run ended last year, but we just couldn’t get over the hump. It was that close. “Getting a chance to go to state would've been amazing, but we just have to continue to have that goal for next year and refocus.” The Irish during the 2025 regular season sustained losses to state-ranked teams such as Fishers (No. 22), Hamilton Southeastern (No. 5), Guerin Catholic (No. 9), Delta (No. 10), Center Grove (No. 12), Brebeuf (No. 3), Park Tudor (No. 29) and Carmel (No. 1). “We always talk about a tough schedule; it was loaded again,” Giles said. “We knew what we were doing was the right way to do things with a tougher schedule and it definitely prepared us for the postseason.” The Irish in 2025 were: *Senior Chris Wojtalik (14-12), No. 1 singles. *Senior James Langfeldt (14-8), No. 2 singles. *Sophomore Luke Langfeldt, No. 3 singles. *Senior Ryan Wernke and junior Tanner Wernke (13-14), No. 1 doubles. *Senior Luke Smith and junior Joey Whelan, No. 2 doubles. “We knew they'd all be leaders,” Giles said of the seniors. “That was good to be able to lean on them and have them speak about the process after each tough, challenging match.” Giles said Wojtalik managed the difficult No. 1 singles position well, earning All-District and honorable mention All-State honors as a senior. “That No. 1 position is always tough,” Giles said. “Anytime you're replacing Charlie Coleman – a Big Ten player playing at Purdue this year and one of the top two players in the state last year – is tough. He did well. “If you're playing a schedule loaded with Top 15 teams, you’re playing the best of the best at one singles in the state of Indiana and he handled it very well. He stepped up his game and it showed huge improvements over where he finished last year. “We were we were excited and proud of him for that.” And if seniors formed the core of a strong 2025, Giles said a strong group of underclassmen should form the core of a program that can continue being a state power into the foreseeable future. “The thing we're excited about is just a really good group of freshmen and sophomores coming up,” Giles said. “We were able to get some sophomores some varsity experience this year during a few matches, which is great experience for them, and there are three-to-four freshman developing who are going to be really good for us.”