SIKESTON — The Sikeston Bulldogs tennis team has reclaimed the district title for the 2008 season after a one year absence from being on top. The playoff run will be the 10th in the program’s history.
The doubles tandem of Charlie Jones and Clay Matthews had a big role in the honors on Friday afternoon, as the two won the doubles championship over Reynolds and Fuemmeyer of Farmington. Jones and Matthews failed to lose a set as they won 6-4 and 6-3.
The first match of the day featured the toughest opponent for the Bulldog seniors as Patel and Menicio, Farmington’s No. 2 team, played Sikeston’s No. 1 duo tough and finally fell 6-2 and 7-6.
Rinell and Knokkanen of North County were next on the list, falling 6-2 and 6-1, followed by Hollingsworth and Politte of Potosi who fell to the Bulldogs 6-1 and 6-1.
“We played pretty well today,” said Matthews of the team’s play throughout the tournament. “I thought we star
SHS’s Stuart Strom prepares to serve in doubles action |
ted out a little sluggish, but after hitting for a little while we warmed up and we played pretty well.”
“The first round was a little rough,” said Jones. “But, from there on we did pretty well and we started hitting our shots and doing what we were supposed to do. We peaked at the right time today.”
Justin Deere and Stuart Strom came into district competition as the No. 2 team for Sikeston, and nearly pulled off an upset to set up what head coach Brian James said would be a first – a Bulldog only finals in doubles play.
“I’ve never had an all-Sikeston final, but we just about had one,” said James.
Deere and Strom received a bye in the first roun
Sikeston’s Charlie Jones hits a forehand in doubles action |
d, just like their teammates from the No. 1 team, then defeated Blum and Linderer of Crystal City in their first match 6-0 and 6-3. Arcadia Valley was the next team to fall to the duo, as they defeated Nations and Holder 6-2 and 6-3 to head to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals Deere and Strom came up just short of a finals berth, losing in a tie-breaker to Reynolds and Fuemmeyer of Farmington by scores of 6-7, 6-3 and 10-5.
The two came up just short in the consolation final as well, as Hollingsworth and Politte of Potosi held on in a tie-breaker to win 4-6, 6-3 and 10-7. The No. 1 singles player for Sikeston, Daniel Agung, came into play on Friday as the anticipated champion of the district, but battled a nagging leg injury all day long as he played in four matches.
After a first round bye, Agung won 6-0 and 6-0 in all three of his first matches, defeating Ledbetter of Farmington first, Vogt of St. Pius second and Beckmann of North County third.
Arnold, Farmington’s No. 1 player and No. 2 seed in the tournament, then defeated Agung 6-2 and 6-2 to receive the singles title for the Knights.
“Daniel really couldn’t go in the finals,” said James of his No. 1 singles player. “We had already clinched the team title, so I gave him the option to come off of there and he really wanted to battle a little bit. It was a little painful to watch him, but to his credit he did kind of stick it out and try to finish it.”
The Bulldogs claimed the outright team title with a final score of 30, Farmington came in a close second at 24.5 and Potosi finished in third with 15.5 for the day. The order of the remaining finishers, four through 11 were Crystal City (13.5), North County (12), Arcadia Valley (11.5), St. Pius (11), Charleston (8.5), Dexter (7), DeSoto (4.5) and Festus (4).
James was happy with his team’s performance Friday on the hard court. “I thought we had a good overall team effort,” he said. “To win a team district, you have to have all of your entries contributing. I thought we all did that, and everybody played well today.”
Up next for the Bulldogs is the first round of team tennis, scheduled to be played Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. on their home court.
