Edwardsville captures 17th straight boys tennis crown, Alton finishes in top five

May 15, 2017 6:02 AM May 15, 2017 6:11 AM

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EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's dominance of boys tennis continued over the weekend as the Tigers claimed their 17^th straight Southwestern Conference championship in the conference tournament at the EHS Tennis Complex Saturday.

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The Tigers won all but one singles flight to go with the three doubles flights they won Friday to end up with 71 of a possible 72 points, with Belleville East taking second with 61 and O'Fallon third with 52; Belleville West took fourth (46), Alton fifth (40), Granite City sixth (25), Collinsville seventh (22) and East St. Louis eighth (nine).

“It was a great day for us today,” Edwardsville head boys tennis coach Dave Lipe said. “We were dominant in singles; our kids only last match. This was one of the more impressive conference tournaments I can recall. It was a deep field, but our kids played well overall on Friday and Saturday. It feels good to win it.”

Belleville East and O’Fallon provided top-notch competition for the Tigers, Lipe said.

“It is a very difficult thing in any sport to win the Southwestern Conference,” he said. “I think our conference is one of the toughest conferences in the state.”

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EHS' Zach Trimpe defeated the Lancers' Max Skaer 6-0, 6-3 to win the No. 1 flight; Alex Gray downed East's Christian Cowulich 6-3, 6-2 to win the second flight; Erik Weiler defeated West's Austin Quandt 6-1, 6-2 for the title in the third flight; Seth Lipe eliminated O'Fallon's Adam Spihlman 6-1, 6-0 for the title in the fourth flight; and Ben Bequette downed Jacob McQueen of East 7-6, 6-3 for the sixth flight championship. The Tigers' Logan Pursell dropped his final, the fifth flight, 6-4, 6-3 to the Lancers' Carter Baldus.

Alton's top finishes on the day came from Ben Simasky, a third in the third flight, and Carson Freeman, a fourth in the sixth flight. Granite City's best resutls came from sixths from Carter Roustio in the first flight, Nathan Tanthathong in the second flght, Brian Ames in the fourth flight and Joey Moslander in the sixth flight.