Highland boys tennis confident after strong showing at Edwardsville Tournament
Just two and a half weeks into the 2024 boys tennis season, Highland coach Matt Pellock likes what he is seeing out of his Bulldogs club.
Highland turned in another solid showing last weekend when the Bulldog competed in the Edwardsville Invitational at Edwardsville High School.
Highland placed fourth in its bracket during the two-day event.
Dunlap won the bracket with first place finish followed by second place Quincy, O’Fallon in third place, Highland, Springfield, Jacobs and Alton.
“It went well (for us) and we were in a pretty good bracket there,” Pellock said. “It was really good competition and it was nice to play teams that aren’t in the area and a chance to get to play O’Fallon since our schedules don’t put us head to head during the season.”
Highland faced three teams in its bracket. The Bulldogs won their first match over Chicago Payton 8-1 on Friday and then lost to Class 1A power Dunlop 1-8 before finishing up the tournament on Saturday with a close 4-5 loss to O’Fallon.
The bracket was a good early season challenge for HHS.
“Dunlap is a really good team and they finished top five in state last year in our class, so they have a really deep team and a lot of good players on their team,” Pellock said. “O’Fallon, we matched up pretty close with and we don’t get to play them a lot head to head during the season, so there were a lot of close scores there and that’s always good a good match up.”
Highland dominated against Chicago Payton for an easy win.
“Everybody played well against Chicago Payton,” Pellock said.
Junior Grant Fleming got Highland’s lone win against Dunlap winning at No. 1 singles.
“Playing a team like Dunlap gives us a good feel for what we need to improve on our own,” Pellock said.
Fleming and Jack Meyer shined against O’Fallon. Fleming won his match at JNo. 1 singles and Meyer, a senior notched a win at No. 2 singles against the Panthers.
“We’ve had some nice play at the top from Grant Fleming and Jack Meyer, a senior have had a nice start to the season,” Pellock said. “He and Jack had a nice match at number one doubles against Dunlop.”
Another top performer in the O’Fallon match was Breckin Box, who won at No. 5 singles.
Pellock also praised the early match work of newcomers Jackson Cline at No. 6singles, Parker Scholl, and Rex Holthaus.
“They’ve been playing well for us filling in in kind of the lower varsity spots, helping out,” Pellock said.
Although the season is only about three weeks in, Pellock believes this is one of the best starts the team has had in recent years.
“We’ve had some good success so far in the season and it’s been really one of our better starts we’ve had to the season,” so far,” Pellock said. “It’s a nice start for hopefully that’s to come as we play more and more regularly.”
