Edwardsville's boys' tennis program continues to showcase depth

Edwardsville’s boys’ tennis team faced some tough competition last weekend both at home in the Tiger Duals and at the Pitchford Invitational in Arlington Heights.

One of the Edwardsville teams captured fourth place in the Duals, losing 4-1 to Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin in the semifinals and bowing 5-0 to Carbondale in the third-place match. A total of 15 teams competed in the Tiger Duals.

Luke Motley and Ben Bequette were two of the top performers in doubles at Edwardsville, losing a 10-7 heartbreaker to SH-G. Sacred Heart-Griffin featured stronger players who were sectional champions in 2014.

Freshman Logan Pursell also played well, in No. 2 doubles with Jared Smith and defeated a team from SH-G 6-3, 6-4.

Pursell, Dan Thomas, Jason Pan and Logan Koons all performed well in the tournament, assistant coach Jamaal Heavens said.

“We have a good group of four freshmen who are getting a lot of good experience and we look for them to be up higher in the mix soon in the future,” Heavens said. “With the team playing up near Chicago, they got a lot of good experience this weekend.”

Edwardsville finished in 13^th place in the Pitchford Invitational. Edwardsville’s No. 1 double tandem of Joe Mezo and Jon Koons finished 3-2 in the tourney.

“I think the competition is very strong in spots, eventually see the best players in state; several entries walked out with winning records. That is outstanding,” Edwardsville tennis coach Dave Lipe said. “This tournament is a really good barometer for where we are at this point in the season. We look at this tourney and know what we have to do moving down the home stretch.”

Mezo said he thought the competition at the Pitchford was excellent. “We knew every match was going to be a challenge and we have to play the best all the time to get results,” he said, looking down the road at postseason competition.

Teammate Erik Weiler said Hersey was basically a mini-state tournament with a lot of quality matches in a short amount of time against excellent people.

“It was a good tournament for us to play,” Weiler said. “It helps us a lot at the end of the season. It allowed me to see how I am playing.”

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