Sikeston and Charleston netters get eliminated

ST. LOUIS - The Sikeston and Charleston tennis teams were eliminated from state competition on Saturday in St. Louis.

Sikeston was defeated by John Burroughs 6-0 while Charleston lost to MICDS 5-0.

Burroughs ended up winning the day with a 5-1 victory against MICDS.

"John Burroughs has one of the top teams in the state, regardless of class," said Sikeston coach Brian James. "Last year's state champion singles player is back this year. That same kid also teamed up with their number two player two years ago to win the doubles state championship team. This year, their number two and number three singles player are the favorite to win a doubles state championship title again. John Burroughs is so very talented, 1-through-6. "

For Sikeston, none of the matches were close. Only Peter Jones was able to win more than one game, that being a 6-3 loss in the first set.

The rest of the matches were either 6-1 or 6-0.

Players competing in addition to Jones were Marc Leible, Chris Robey, Kyle Weeks, Sam Zhao and Chris Matthews.

"It's a very good experience for us to play against these kind of guys and it just goes to show you just how good some of them are," said James. "I don't think we played that bad in our matches, even though the score may show otherwise. They are so consistent and have had so much training. Every point we won, our boys just had to battle. They make so few mistakes.

"What may be even more amazing is that John Burroughs finished 2nd in their own district. That District 2 is considered to be the top tennis district in the state. You've got teams like Clayton, Ladue, Priory, Lutheran South - that don't even place in the top 2 of their own district."

James' Bulldogs finished the season at 10-3. Although the team competition is over, the Bulldogs still have three players alive in the individual competition this week.

Jones and Robey will be competing in the doubles competition while Leible will compete in the singles competition.

"We'll lose Kyle Weeks off the varsity," said James. "It's been a real pleasure to have Kyle the last four years. He's gone from a middle-of-the-pack jayvee guy his freshman year to a very quality player the last couple of years. He finished with a third place finish in doubles this year, which was probably the key to our team district championship this year.

"I'm certainly going to miss Kyle's competitiveness and great personality as well as the other seniors who are graduating - Logan Wagoner, Karl Erlenbush, Jacob Marsh and Wamidh Jamil.

"They are all outstanding young men and I enjoyed having them on the team. We still have seniors Chris Robey and Peter Jones competing in the state tournament next week, so hopefully they finish their high school careers strong."