ALTON – Edwardsville's boys tennis team won its 15th straight IHSA Sectional title Saturday, sending all of their singles and doubles entrants to next weekend's IHSA state tennis tournament in Arlington Heights.
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The Tigers scored 26 points to easily outdistance host Alton, who had 13 points. Civic Memorial finished third with seven points, followed by Marquette, Roxana and East Alton-Wood River, who tied for fourth with four points each, and Jersey and Metro-East Lutheran, who had two points.
The Tigers will be sending Luke Motley and Erik Welier in singles and the doubles teams of Jonathan Koons and Alex Gray and Joe Mezo and Carson Ware to the state tournament, while the Redbirds will send the doubles teams of Jackson Schieter and Kain Henson and Carl Stradel and Drew Hayes. Civic Memorial's Brett Norvill and Marquette's Nick Berkinbile also qualified for the state tournament by finishing third and fourth in singles.
Edwardsville tennis coach Dave Lipe said he was really pleased with his team's performance in the meet.
"It was great leadership by our seniors today and it feels terrific to win the sectional," he said. "Winning the sectional and qualifying kids to state are the two things we want to do each year."
Lipe said the doubles part of the sectional was very competitive and he felt fortunate for his combinations to come through to state.
Motley, a junior, filled in for Kyle Carlson who is out for an injury, and Lipe said Motley was elated at getting an opportunity to go to state.
"We train those JV kids hard and Luke has been working hard all year because we know he will be in the lineup next year," Lipe said.
Erik Weiler continues to improve at the No. 1 singles spot, Lipe said for the Tigers.
“Congratulations to Edwardsville,” said Redbird coach Jesse Macias, who will be retiring from his coaching position after the state tournament ends. “Dave Lipe has a great program and they continue to win year in and year out. They had a lot of new varsity players this year, so to win sectionals is impressive.
“I'm ecstatic for our four players who get to finish their careers at state. Carl, Jackson and Kain have been to state three times, so it will be fun to see what they can do as seniors. They are really looking forward to one more shot. It's also exciting for Drew; it will be his first state tournament, he and Carl are really starting to click and I think both of our doubles teams can do well.”
Macias also noted his impending final state tournament as a coach. “It's my last state tournament too. I'm looking forward to finishing my coaching career with these four seniors,” Macias said.
The tournament begins Thursday and runs through May 30.
Brent Feeney also contributed to this story.
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