BELLEVILLE - Edwardsville swept through the competition in an amazing performance as the Tigers took the Southwestern Conference boys tennis championship for the 23rd year in succession over the weekend in Belleville.
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The Tigers won with 72 points, with Belleville East second at 60 points, O'Fallon was third with 51 points, Alton came in fourth at 49 points, fifth place went to Belleville West with 38 points, and Collinsville was sixth at 21 points.
The doubles competition was held on Friday, and in the first flight, the Tigers' team of Jade Dynamic and Jesse Hattrup won its semifinal match 6-0, 6-0, then took the final over Rowen Brunner and Ben Van Alstine of O'Fallon 6-1, 6-1. Iin the second flight, Schaefer Bates and Issac Chieboun won in the semifinals 6-2, 6-2, and led in the first set of the final 5-2, when their opposition was forced to retire. In the third and final flight, Colton Hulme and Brandon Wong won over Belleville East's Donovan O'Keefe and Kevin Mackeen 6-0, 6-0.
The Saturday singles flights were divided between Belleville East and Belleville West, and in the number one flight, Hattrup won his semifinal match 6-0, 6-1, and in the final, took the title with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Ethan Mueller off the Lancers. Hulme won the second flight, with a semifinal win 6-0, 6-1, and defeated East's Mason Ballard in the final 6-2, 6-1. Dynamic swept through to the number three flight title, winning his semifinal match 6-0, 6-1, then took the final over Vikram Kondagunta of Belleville East 6-2, 6-2.
In the number four flight, Bates won the semifinal match 6-2, 6-2, then won the championship match by injury default, while in the fifth flight, Chieboun won the semifinal match 6-1, 6-0, then defeated Robert Bleich of the Lancers 6-1, 6-0, and in the sixth flight, Wong took his semifinal match 6-0, 6-0, before winning the final over Mackeen 6-2, 6-3.
The Tigers, Redbirds, and Kahoks will all compete in the IHSA Class 2A sectional tournament, along with Granite City, on Friday and Saturday at O'Fallon, with the top four in the singles and doubles advancing to the state tournament, to be held May 23-25 at Palatine High and other venues in northwest suburban Chicagoland.
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