For first time in 24 years, Highland boys claim conference tennis title
A watershed moment occurred for the Highland Bulldogs boys tennis program last weekend.
For the first time since 2000, when coach Matt Pellock was a player on the Bulldogs roster, Highland claimed the Mississippi Valley Conference Tournament Championship at Triad High School Saturday
“It was a memorable weekend for the Highland boys tennis program,” Pellock said. “For the first time since 2000, they were winners of the MVC boys tennis tournament. This has been such a challenging task and, for this team to accomplish it is truly incredible. I’m really proud of them.”
Highland started the weekend off on Friday by playing the doubles flights of the tournament at Highland due to several players having to do advanced placement testing there.
After playing the doubles rounds on day one, the Bulldogs found themselves in second place with 16 points behind first-place Triad, which led with 16 points.
Grant Fleming and Jack Meyer won first place at No. 1 doubles over Triad while Triad won both the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles flights.
“Triad had finished second at the one flight and then they won the No. 2 and 3 doubles flights and they were seeded third and second in those so that was a big turnaround for them and they were in the led by five after the doubles day,” Pellock said.
On Saturday, the tournament moved to Triad for singles play and Highland turned in one of its best performances in almost 25 years.
Grant Fleming took down Ethan Stewart 6-4, 6-1 to claim the No. 1 singles flight.
Jack Meyer also excelled in the singles, defeating Triad’s Joe Cass in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. “Jack lost to Joe Cass 6-3, 6-0 just a week ago when they played and Jack won that match 6-4, 6-4. That was just a complete turnaround and closed out both sets with a lot of belief,” Pellock said.
Will Lindsco kept the roll going with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Eli Woodrome of Mascoutah to win the No. 3 singles championship. “Will played really smart and executed really well,” Pellock said.
The Bulldogs did not have any finalists in the No. 4 or No. 6 singles flights but Breckin Box gave the Bulldogs the final points they needed to stay on top in singles play thanks to his 6-3, 6-2 win over Jerseyville to claim the No. 5 singles flight.
Pellock was amazed by the turnaround from the doubles to singles play by his club.
“It was really unreal to see it come together because it just wasn’t trending that way at all for the first day and a half,” Pellock said. “Getting the number one double flight against Triad certainly kept us in it.”
Highland won the tournament with a first-place total of 37 points followed by Triad with 34 points and third-place Mascoutah with 31 points.
Waterloo (24), Jerseyville (16), and Civic Memorial (2) rounded out the rest of the field.
