EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville High School tennis player Seth Lipe very much enjoyed playing in the first Madison County-St. Clair County All-Star match held Thursday evening at the Edwardsville Tennis Center, the match serving as a curtain raiser for the upcoming Edwardsville Futures tournament.
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“Yeah, a bunch of fun,” Lipe said. “It’s fun to compete with so many of the schools that I never see, and some of the players I never see, because, obviously, I don’t play against girls,” he said with a smile and laugh.
And when assessing his performances during the event, Lipe took a novel approach to the question.
“I mean, I think the only way to assess it off of how enjoyable it was,” Lipe said, “and I had a lot of fun. So I’m pleased with myself because this is not a competitive event. You compete, but it’s an enjoyable competition. There’s no pressure.”
And of course, All-Star meetings in any sport are supposed to be fun and enjoyable.
“Yeah, exactly. Exactly,” Lipe said. “That’s the whole essence.”
Lipe, who’s entering his senior season for the Tigers in 2019, has set some goals for his final year.
“It depends if I play singles or doubles in the postseason,” Lipe said. “My only goal right now is to work as hard as I can and improve as much as I can, put myself in a good position to succeed in whatever I do next off-season, singles or doubles.”
As far as college goes, Lipe is looking at many schools right now and is keeping his options open.
“Yeah, I’m looking at a lot of colleges,” Lipe said. “Emory in Atlanta, Case Western In Cleveland, some other schools like Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech and Georgia.”
Lipe hasn’t made any plans for tennis past college but instead focusing on what his major in college may be.
“I don’t know. I don’t even know what I want to major in yet,” Lipe said with a smile and laugh. “Maybe I’ll be an engineer; that’s kind of what I’m looking into right now.”
And of course, one never knows what might happen down the road.
“Yeah, exactly,” Lipe said. “People change their majors all the time. I haven’t even chosen one yet, and I’ll probably change my major after I decide what I want to do at first.”
But whatever Seth Lipe decides to do, you can bet that he’ll work hard to achieve whatever goals he sets for himself, both of the tennis courts and in the classroom.
