Edwardsville's Koons, Trimpe and Colbert Advance to State Tennis, Jersey's Maag and Ingram, and CM's Loewen and Butkovich Also Advance

Edwardsville Sends Koons in Singles, Trimpe and Colbert in Doubles As Tigers Finish Third in Sectional Tennis Meet

EDWARDSVILLE- The Edwardsville High School girls tennis team had two qualifiers - Chloe Koons in singles, and the team of Chloe Trimpe and Hannah Colbert in doubles - qualify for next weekend's Illinois High School Association Class 2A state tennis meet with top four finishes in the sectional tournament held over the weekend at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.

The Tigers finished third in the team standings with 21 points, as O'Fallon and Quincy tied for the title with 22 points each, but the Blue Devils winning the crown on a tiebreak, with Quincy winning 59 percent of its total games, while the Panthers won 55 percent. Belleville East was fourth with 17 points, while Collinsville was fifth with seven points, Belleville West was sixth with six points, Springfield High and Chatham Glenwood tied for seventh with two points each, and Granite City was scoreless.

Koons started out the tournament with a first round bye, won her second round match over Collinsville's Ally Moore 6-0, 6-0, then qualified for state by defeating Gabi Schram of O'Fallon 6-0, 6-0, as the top four finishers were guaranteed of moving on to the state tournament. In Saturday's semifinals, Koons won over Olivia Clayton of Quincy 6-1, 6-1, but lost in the final to the Blue Devils' Otone Odajima, an exchange student from Japan, 6-1, 6-0.

The Tigers other entrant, Grace Hackett, received a first round bye, then defeated Bella Kreher of Belleville West 6-3, 6-0, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Belleville East's JoJo Skaer 6-3, 6-1. Alton's Nikki Lowe got a bye in the first round, but lost to Odajima in the second round 6-0, 6-0, while Maddie Saenz won her first round match over Natalie Hampsten of Belleville West 6-2, 6-0, but lost in the second round to Clayton 6-0, 6-2.

The Kahoks' Moore got a first round bye before losing in the second round to Koons, while Lindsey Taylor also got a first round bye, and won her second round match over Julia Mitra of Springfield High 6-0, 6-0 before losing in the quarterfinals to Odajima 6-0, 6-0. Granite City's two entries lost in the first round, with Kreher winning over Emma Vanbuskirk 6-0, 6-1, and Randi Ulrich losing to Springfield's Sheelah Ingbritsen 6-4, 6-1.

In the doubles, Colbert and Trimpe received a first round bye, won their second round match over Katarina Vrtikapa and Emily Klinner of Quincy 6-0, 6-0, then qualified for state with a quarterfinal win over Grace Bauer and Alyssa Riley of Belleville West 6-3, 6-2. In the semifinals, Colbert and Trimpe lost to Kate Macaluso and Miley Brunner of O'Fallon 6-2, 6-3, but won the third place match over Ali and Megan Mueller of the Panthers 6-0, 6-0.

Edwardsville's other doubles team of Hayley Earnhart and Emma Herman won in the first round over Alton's Lydia Criveau and Paige Rockholm 6-2, 6-0, but lost in the second round to Mia and Abigail McIssac of Belleville East 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, with each set ending in tiebreaks. The Redbirds' other team of Ainsley Fortschneider and Val Walters received a first round bye, but lost in the second round to Anna Chambers and Lauren Schrage of Chatham Glenwood 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

For the Kahoks, Loghan Phetsadasack and Anna Fable had a bye in the first round, but lost in the second round to Brunner and Macaluso 6-0, 6-0, and the team of Brianna Shea and Alyssa Garcia lost to Chatham Glenwood's Amber Ehrlich and Lily Randolph in the first round 6-1, 6-0. For the Warriors, Callie Kirksey and Anna Krueger lost in the first round to Vrtikapa and Klinner 6-1, 6-2, and the team of Rebecca Loftus and Jaedyn Black got a bye in the first round, but lost in the second to Audra Cain and Isabella Trinh of Quincy 6-3, 7-5.

The state qualifiers will all play in the IHSA Class 2A state tournament, starting on Thursday in and around Buffalo Grove, in northwest suburban Chicago.

Wells, Grigg Advance to State in Singles, Rockwell and Carmody in Doubles As Triad Wins Althoff Sectional

BELLEVILLE - Triad's girls tennis team advance both of its singles players and one of the Knights' doubles team as Triad won the IHSA Class 1A sectional on Saturday at Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville.

The Knights came out on top for the championship with 17 points, edging out the host Crusaders, who had 14 points, with third place going to Mascoutah with 10 points, followed by Civic Memorial with eight points, Jersey with seven, Marquette Catholic with four points, Roxana with two, and East Alton-Wood River with no points.

Evelyn Wells and Bailey Grigg finished second and third respectively for the Knights in singles, while the doubles team of Gillian Rockwell and Jocelynn Carmody qualified in the doubles, along with Jersey's Michelle Maag and Lily Ingram, and CM's Kennedy Loewen and Hannah Butkovich.

Wells started off with a win over Aubrey Hunter of Marquette 6-0. 6-0. then qualified for state with a 6-1, 6-1 win over the Eagles' Kirby, and in the semifinals, won over Althoff's Natalie Cohn 6-7, 6-1, 6-1 before losing the final to Mascoutah's Ella Mostoller 6-3, 6-3.

Grigg started out with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Kate Jones of Jersey, then qualified for the state meet with a quarterfinal win over Caitlyn Conrad of Althoff 6-1, 6-1. Grigg lost her semifinal match to Mostoller 6-1, 6-1, but won the third place match over Cohn 6-0, 6-2.

In the doubles, Rockwell and Carmody won their opening match over Tess Schmeider and Kelly Cohn of the Crusaders 7-5, 6-3, then qualified for the state meet with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Roxana's Abbey Gegen and Stephanie Kamp. Rockwell and Carmody defeated Maag and Ingram in the semifinal 6-2, 6-2, then lost in the final to Althoff's Kylie Chitwood and Maddie Mena 6-1, 7-5.

Maag and Ingram opened with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Marquette's Emily Berkenbile and Kayla Theis, then went through to state with a win over CM's Mattie Lively and Brooke Barker. After losing the semifinal to Rockwell and Carmody, Maag and Ingram defeated Butkovich and Loewen 6-0, 6-1.

Butkovich and Loewen started off with a first round win over Triad's Haley Jackson and Grace Marklin 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, then qualified for state with a win over Hardimon and Eddy of Mascoutah 6-4, 6-1. Butkovich and Loewen lost in the semifinals to Chitwood and Mena 6-0. 6-2 before their loss in the third place match to Maag and Ingram.

The qualifiers will all play in the IHSA Class 1A state tournament, which starts Thursday in and around Buffalo Grove, in suburban Chicago.Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

More like this:

Related Video:

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story

Print Version