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ALTON - The Edwardsville girls tennis team, as it did in the three doubles flights on Friday, swept all six singles flights on Saturday in going on to take the championship of the Southwestern Conference girls tennis tournament at Alton High, Gordon Moore Park and Roxana High.

The Tigers won with a perfect score of 63 points, with Belleville East coming in second with 51 points, O'Fallon was third with a score of 46 points, Belleville West was fourth with 37 points, the host Redbirds were fifth with 25 points, Collinsville came in sixth with 21 points, and East St. Louis was seventh with nine points.

Edwardsville played exceptionally well all weekend, and head coach Dave Lipe was very happy with how the tournament turned out.

"I couldn't be more proud of this group of girls," Lipe said. "I saw a lot of senior girls play the best tennis of their careers. They were pushed, they were challenged, and they played well all day. I am so proud of all of them."

The four Tigers seniors --- Chloe Trimpe, Emma Herman, Morgan Marshall and Grace Hackett --- particularly played well, earning praise from their head coach.

"I thought our four seniors showed a lot of poise today," Lipe said. "I don't think we hurt ourselves at all, and we want to thank Alton High School, (athletic director) Chris Kusnerick and (head coach) Jesse Macias for hosting the tournament. Big thanks to all."

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In the number one flight, the Tigers' Chloe Koons drew a bye into the semifinals, while Alton's Lydia Criveau won her first match over Mari Pellman of West 6-3, 3-6, 10-8, while the Kahoks' Alyssa Garcia lost to O'Fallon's Ali Mueller 6-1, 6-1. In the consolation bracket, Garcia won over Williams of East St. Louis 6-1, 6-1, but lost the fifth-place match to Pellman 6-1, 6-4. In the semifinals, Koons won over Criveau 6-0, 6-0, and in the third-place match, Criveau lost to Abigail McIssac of East 6-0, 6-2, while Koons won the final over Mueller 6-1, 6-0.

In the number two flight, Hannah Colbert of Edwardsville drew a bye into the semifinals, while the Redbirds Ainsley Fortschneider lost to the Maroons' Alyssa Riley 4-6, 6-2, 10-3, and the Kahoks' Anna Falbe lost to Mia McIssac of the Lancers 6-0, 6-1. In the consolation bracket, Fortschneider went through to the final with a bye, while Falbe won over the Flyers' Brazil 6-0, 6-0, then won the fifth-place match over Fortschneider 6-2, 2-6, 10-7. In the semifinals, Colbert defeated Riley 6-3, 6-1, then took the title over McIssac 6-1, 6-1.

The number three flight started off with Trimpe getting a bye into the semifinals, while Alton's Paige Rockholm lost to Ava Taylor of the Panthers 6-0, 6-0, and Collinsville's Loghan Phetsadasack lost to Hailey Neal of West 6-0, 6-0. On the consolation side of the bracket, both Rockholm and Phetsadasack drew byes into the fifth-place match, where Rockholm won 6-0, 6-1. In the semifinals, Trimpe defeated Taylor 6-0, 6-2, and then won the championship over Brodie Rauch of East 6-1, 6-2.

The number four flight saw Hackett draw a bye into the semifinals, while the Redbirds' Anna Kane lost to the Lancers' Kylie DelVecchio 6-0, 6-1, and Collinsville's Abbi Olsson was defeated by O'Fallon's Megan Mueller 6-0, 6-0. In the consolation matches, Kane and Olsson both drew byes into the fifth-place match, with Olsson winning over Kane 6-0, 6-4. Hackett won her semifinal match over DelVecchio 6-1, 6-1, then defeated Mueller in the final 6-2, 6-1.

The fifth flight started out with a bye for Herman into the semifinals, while Lydia Taul of the Redbirds lost to the Maroons' Natalie Hampsten 6-0, 6-1, and the Kahoks' Brinna Shea lost to the Panthers' Kelsey Dismukes 6-0, 6-1. Both Taul and Shea advanced to the fifth-place match via byes, with Taul winning the match over Shea 6-2, 6-1. Hackett won her semifinal match over Hampsten 6-2, 6-1, then won the final over the Lancers' Maria Copozzi 6-0, 6-2.

The sixth and final flight saw Marshall go through to the semifinals on a bye, Anna Brady of the Redbirds being defeated by West's Olivia Eiskant 6-0, 6-0, and the Kahoks' Alondra Onate was defeated by O'Fallon's Brooke Riggan 6-0, 6-0. Again, Brady and Onate drew byes into the fifth place match, with Brady winning over Onate 6-3, 6-2. In the semifinals, Marshall won over Eiskant 6-3, 6-4, and then the final over Maya Hataway of East 6-4, 7-5.

The Tigers and the other SWC teams, with the exception of East St. Louis, will join Chatham Glenwood, Granite City, Quincy and Springfield into the IHSA Class 2A sectional tournament on Friday at the Edwardsville Tennis Center. Lipe and his team will be focusing this week on getting ready for the postseason tournament.

"We'll be focused on getting ready for the sectional," Lipe said. "We want to keep improving, and we'll focus on that this week in getting ready."Colin Feeney also contributed to this story.

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