EDWARDSVILLE - The Edwardsville boys tennis team sent both Jesse Hattrup and Brandon Wong to state in the singles, and both doubles teams of Schaefer Bates and Issac Chieboun, and John Almos and Lucas Rudd will be playing at the state tournament as well, with the Tigers winning the IHSA Class 2A sectional tournament over the weekend at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.
The Tigers won the meet with 32 points, while Quincy finished second with 19 points, Belleville East was third with 16 points, O'Fallon came in fourth with 15 points, and Belleville West and Granite City tied for fifth with four points each. Alton and Collinsville failed to score.
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The semifinalists in both singles and doubles qualified for the state tournament, and in the singles quarterfinals, Hattrup defeated Kamden Hearn of East 6-0, 6-0 to qualify, while Derek Guetterman of O'Fallon won over Arrow Crist of Quincy 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, Wong won over Lane Stelling of the Lancers 6-2, 6-0, and Cole Beard of the Panthers eliminated Tyson Wilkinson of Granite 6-0, 6-0. In the singles semifinals, Hattrup defeated Guetterman 6-0, 6-0, and Beard won over Wong 6-2, 6-4. In the third place match, Guetterman defeated Wong 1-6, 5-5, retired, while in the final, Hattrup won over Beard 6-0, 6-0.
In the doubles, Bates and Chieboun qualified for state by winning their quarterfinal match over Vikran Kondagunta and Carson Dyer of Belleville East 6-2, 6-1, Surya Reddy and Ethan Clark of Quincy went through to state with a 6-1, 6-7 (2-7 in the tiebreak), 6-2 win over Jay Naylor and Landon Kinder of Belleville West, Almos and Rudd won over Kevin Mackeen and Robert Bleich of the Lancers 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, and Kale Holzgrafe and Drake Dodd of the Blue Devils won over Dilan Patel and Bryce Sansocie of the Maroons 6-1, 6-0 to qualify for state. In the semifinals, Bates and Chieboun defeated Reddy and Stark 6-1, 6-1, and Holzgrafe and Dodd won over Almos and Rudd 7-5, 7-6 (10-8 in the tiebreak). The third-place match was won by Reddy and Stark over Almos and Rudd 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, while Bates and Chieboun won the championship over Holzgrafe and Dodd 6-2, 6-3.
The qualifiers will be playing in the state tournament May 29-31 at Palatine High School and various sites in northwest suburban Chicago.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
