Shutdown ‘devastating’ for Munster
Hopes for team state title erased, and sophomore star Tallamraju’s brief career with Mustangs ends
Sophomore Sanjana Tallamraju’s 2020 season was going to be her last one at Munster.
The coronavirus pandemic changed that, as it has changed so much else.
When the Indiana High School Athletic Association canceled spring sports on April 2, the 2019 season suddenly became Tallamraju’s last. She already had made the decision to skip her final two years at Munster and attend the Smith Stearns Tennis Academy in Hilton Head, South Carolina, where she spent three weeks training in July 2019.
She plans to move to South Carolina in August. She’ll hone her tennis and academic skills at the academy and also play in USTA National Junior Tournament events and Junior International Tournament events.
Now Tallamraju, her older sister Shalini and their Munster teammates are left to wonder what could have been after the Mustangs’ opportunity to win their first team state title disappeared.
As a freshman last season, Sanjana Tallamraju went 25-2, was a state semifinalist at No. 1 singles and was named first-team all-state.
“We had it locked in: This was our year to win the team state title,” she said. “We wanted the seniors to go out with a bang. I felt for sure I’d have a chance to win individual state and was ready to end the year with a bang too. It was devastating and so disappointing when we heard we wouldn’t have the opportunity.”
Senior Shalini Tallamraju, a Toledo recruit who went 22-1 last year, said Munster’s 3-2 loss to Park Tudor in the 2019 state quarterfinals provided the incentive for the team to take care of business this season.
The Mustangs were loaded with talent, with players like first-team all-state junior Addy Klawitter at No. 3 singles and senior Maria Delis, a first-team all-state doubles player.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Shalini Tallamraju said. “I was honestly really devastated. I didn’t even actually process it until a week after the announcement. I was sitting on my bedroom floor one day after Sanjana and I had finished hitting when I thought, ‘I should be into my senior season right now.’ But then I realized my season was gone, school was over with and everything was done. I thought about us winning the state title because we had one of the best teams in Munster’s history.”
Munster coach Patrick Spohr said he feels “the worst for the kids.”
“This is an opportunity lost for them, a season with a chance of redemption and (then) no closure in their final year,” he said. “At the end of each season, you always tell your athletes the offseason starts tomorrow, so they should get out there and start preparing.
“Well, that’s what these girls did. But now they don’t have anything to show for all the hard work they’ve put in, day in and day out, during the offseason. It’s very disheartening.”