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EDWARDSVILLE – Madison Schrieber made a huge impact this year for Edwardsville's girls tennis team.
Schreiber transferred into the program from O'Fallon for the 2017 season and helped the Tigers to the Southwestern Conference championship for the sixth straight year.
She parlayed her season with the Tigers into a scholarship with NCAA Division-III school St. Mary's University of Winona, Minn., signing with the Cardinals beginning this fall in a ceremony at Edwardsville High School Tuesday afternoon; the Cards are a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which includes schools such as St. John's University of Collegeville, Minn.; Gustavus Adolphus College of St. Peter, Minn.; and St. Olaf College of Northfield, Minn. Winona is located in the southeastern corner of the state, some 44 miles west of Rochester, Minn., the home of the famed Mayo Clinic and a town of about 27,600 population.
“They have a very strong program academically for my future career,” Schreiber said. “I also really liked the people and the environment and there's good competition up there, so that's always a bonus.
“It's a little different, being born and raised here in Southern Illinois; I'm excited. Everyone I met on the team is very nice and I think it's going to be a great next four years.”
“I'm very happy for Mady today,” said Tiger coach Dave Lipe. “It's a great day for the Schreiber family and the EHS tennis family; Mady transferred in as a senior and made an immediate impact on our lineup with her outstanding tennis play, but what impressed me even more was her ability to join the team and not just be a team member, but a team leader.
“That's not easy to do; she was successful in that for sure. She's a great leader, an amiable, charismatic kid. It was my pleasure to coach her this year and work with her. She's a great young person and I'm excited for her opportunity. Athletically, academically, it's got all the markings of a really good fit; I think Mady will go up there and continue to do big things on and off the court, so I'm really happy for her.”
Schreiber's impact on the Tigers was a huge one, Lipe felt. “We won the conference this year, and I don't know if we would have won it without her,” Lipe said. “We loved having her on the team; she's a very charismatic person.”
Schreiber first began playing tennis at age six. “I was just watching it one day, and I had taken lessons when I was six at a country club for a little bit,” Schreiber recalled. “I strayed from that and watching them later on, I thought, 'oh, that looks like a lot of fun'. It is – obviously, I stayed with it. It's just challenging and it's never like the same.
“You'll never play someone who plays exactly the same each time.”
Schreiber plans on majoring in biomedical science at St. Mary's with the goal of becoming a physician's assistant.
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