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EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville High's boys tennis team is making preparations to begin their 2018 season.
The Tigers have 15 players out for the team this spring and started preseason workouts last week in preparation for the season-opening DecoTurf National Championship tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn., next weekend. “We've got a really unique mix of very skilled, very experienced, very talented players,” said Tiger coach Dave Lipe. “We've also got some kids who are very new to the sport; it's a very diverse group. We've worked very hard out here for about a week and a half or so.
“We've got a new assistant coach in Kirk Schlueter, a former player and someone who's been around the program for a long time, who's helping out this year; that makes it a lot easier. Kirk brings a lot of enthusiasm and expertise to the team. We're excited for that addition, which we think will make a major impact on the team this year.”
EHS is returning several players who qualified for last year's IHSA Class 2A state tournament in suburban Chicago – chief among them the doubles team of junior Zach Trimpe and senior Alex Gray, who won the state championship last year. “They had a historic year last year (winning the title) and did some remarkable things,” Lipe said, “but every match they play this year, they don't get any kind of advantage.”
Also returning to the Tigers this year are junior Seth Lipe, who qualified in singles for last year's state tournament and seniors Logan Pursell and Jason Pan. “We return quite a bit from last year,” Lipe said. “Three of our top six guys are seniors (Gray, Pursell and Pan); we'll be good, one of the more competitive teams in the St. Louis area.
“We'll host a great event, the Spring Invitational (tournament) in a couple of weeks (the weekend of March 30-31 at the EHS Tennis Center).” Other schedule highlights include the Tiger Duals tournament April 27-28, the Pitchford Tournament in Arlington Heights the same weekend as the Tiger Duals, the seven SWC teams throughout the season and a mid-April trip to Columbia, Mo., for the Rock Bridge Quads.
The DecoTurf tournament will feature some very tough competition among schools from across the nation. “It's a heck of a way to start off your season with that type of stiff competition,” Lipe said, “but that's what we do; we're looking forward to it.”
Lipe does expect tough competition from the Southwestern Conference teams this year as always. “The (SWC) will be a tough conference this year,” Lipe said. “It's going to be a very difficult conference; O'Fallon's going to be good, Belleville East is going to be very good. Everyone has some good players and it's not going to be an easy ride – it's one of the best tennis conferences in the state.
“The boys set goals this year and they're lofty goals, lofty expectations, but the bar's been set in this program; kids know what the expectations are coming into the season.”
The IHSA Class 2A tennis tournament is set for Memorial Day weekend, May 24-26, hosted by Arlington Heights Hersey, with sectionals set for May 18-19; assignments for the sectionals have not been announced by the IHSA office as of yet.
