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EDWARDSVILLE – Dry weather and bright skies greeted teams Friday morning to the opening day of the Scott Credit Union Edwardsville Spring Invitational tennis tournament at the Edwardsville High Tennis Center and other venues throughout the area.
Edwardsville's team had a successful day on the courts, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament, which gets under way at 8 a.m.; the start of play Saturday was moved up a half-hour due to rain in the forecast later Saturday morning, which could force a move into indoor facilities. The Tigers scored a 9-0 win over Springfield in the opening round before defeating Downers Grove South of suburban Chicago 8-1; the Tigers are slated to meet John Burroughs in Saturday's semifinals.
“I'm proud of my kids for grinding through and getting to the semis,” said Tiger coach Dave Lipe. “Downers Grove South is a very deep team and we had our battles; we had several battles. Drake (Schreiber) came back ad won a nice singles match, Zach (Trimpe) was very dominate in singles and (Jason) Pan had a tough match.
“I thought Logan (Pursell) played well; he lost, but I was very satisfied with how he played. We weren't perfect by any means, but we played well and we're looking forward to a tough semifinal tomorrow, with (St. Xavier of Louisville, Ky.) and (Normal University) in the other semi – those are four very good teams. The whole Champions flight is very strong, as well as the Challengers flight. It's about the deepest field we've ever had.”
“I was really happy to walk away with a win today,” said the Tigers' Alex Gray. “I think it showed how focused I was and I was playing strong tennis. Springfield and Downers Grove South are both solid teams; we just came out here an did what we needed to do – play solid matches; I'm really happy with it.”
As far as the entire tournament goes, Lipe – who doubles as tournament director – was happy with how things went overall on the day. “It was thrilling to get in all these matches; we had a good, brisk, cool day today,” Lipe said, with temperatures in the upper 50s and steady breezes with sunny skies, especially later in the day. “It was a good, clear, spring day; the level of tennis was outstanding.
“Many thanks to everybody who helped to run this – all the site directors, the schools who ended their support by allowing us to use their courts. As the tournament director, it was thrilling to get the day in.”
With rain in the forecast for Saturday – showers are expected to be in the area by late morning – Lipe is hopeful of getting at least the semifinals in. “We're hoping to get a round in tomorrow before it starts to rain,” Lipe said. “That's the goal – we're going to get as much in as we can outdoors, then we're going to move some things indoors.
“Our plan at this point is to move a few matches indoors depending on where we are.”
Against the Senators, the Tigers got out to a quick 3-0 lead in doubles, with Gray/Seth Lipe defeating Raj Sinha/Shaul Latif 8-3, Trimpe/Schreiber scoring a 8-1 win over Matu Krestos/Eric Martin and Pan/Logan Pursell defeating David Jiang/Zeke Cross 8-2; in singles play, Trimpe downed Sinha 7-5, 6-3; Gray defeated Latif 6-1, 6-1; Lipe scored a 6-0, 6-0 win over Krestos; Pursell defeated Martin 6-0, 6-0; Schreiber won over Jiang 5-7, 6-2, 10-6; and Pan topped Cross 6-2, 6-2.
Against the Mustangs, Trimpe scored a 6-1, 6-1 win over Mitch Ludewig; Gray defeated Nolan Orth 6-0, 6-0; Lipe downed Matt Garcia 6-3, 6-1; Tanju Singh defeated Pursell 2-6, 7-5, 10-5; Schreiber downed Jon Maghirang 7-5, 6-1; and Pan upended Eric Herstowski 7-5, 6-1. In doubles play, Gray/Lipe defeated Garcia/Ryan Krakowiak 8-0; Trimpe/Schreiber scored an 8-5 win over Ludewig/Orth; and Pursell/Pan defeated Singh/Maghiran 8-6.
In other matches involving area teams Friday, Chatham Glenwood defeated Alton 9-0 in the Challengers flight first round; the Redbirds then fell to the Arlington Heights Hersey JV 7-2 in the consolation quarterfinals; the Chaminade JV defeated Jersey in the Challengers flight opening round before Robinson defeated the Panthers 8-1 in a consolation quarterfinal match; and Triad defeated Marion 7-2 in a first-round Challengers flight match before the Knights defeated Rockford Christian 8-1 to move into a semifinal match.
In the Futures flight, the Tiger JV defeated Centalia 8-1 and Carbondale 6-3 in round-robin group play; the Triad JV 2 team downed Collinsville 8-2 and Flora 9-0 in their group; and the Triad JV team downed the Belleville East JV 8-1 and Salem 8-1 in their group play.
