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Netters fall to Charleston
SIKESTON - The Sikeston tennis team fell to 2-1 on the season with a 6-3 loss to Charleston on Thursday.
The Bulldogs won three of the singles matches but they were swept in doubles competition.
"I think Charleston is better than us right now," said Sikeston head coach Brian James. "They are more aggressive and their kids play very hard. They have an outstanding team, very solid in their top six. We've just got to keep improving and I think we have, we just played a team that was too much for us today."
In singles, Sikeston's only winners were Marc Leible, Chris Robey and Kyle Weeks.
Leible beat Blake Branum 8-4; Robey beat Lee Hess 8-6 and Weeks beat Derek Hoppe 9-8 (7-0).
Charleston's singles winners were Alec Peterson, Kyle Kemp and Jake Garrard.
Peterson beat Ryne Vickery 8-2; Kemp beat Peter Jones 8-4; and Garrard beat Matt Strom 8-1.
"Anytime you beat Sikeston it's a good win," said Charleston head coach Mitch Baker. "We knew they were going to be strong because they had several guys back. It was a good match. Anytime you can beat a good team like Sikeston you've got to feel good about it."
In doubles, Peterson/Kemp beat Vickery/Jones 8-4; Branum/Hess beat Leible/Robey 9-7; and Garrard/Hoppe beat Weeks/Howard 8-4.
"We've got to do a better job in our doubles," said James. "That was my only real disappointment. We weren't aggressive and we kind of played on our heels, not ready a lot of the time. They're a district opponent, so I think our guys can see they've got some work to do and nobody is going to hand anything to us for free. It's going to take some work."
Sikeston will host Poplar Bluff on Monday at 4 p.m. Charleston (7-1) will host Poplar Bluff on Thursday at 4 p.m.