Dexter tennis team claims district title

DEXTER, Mo. - The Dexter varsity boys tennis team experienced little difficulty repeating as the Class 1, District 1 champs Friday afternoon.

Top-seeded Dexter won all three doubles matches and two of the first three singles matches completed to knock off third-seeded Notre Dame 5-1 in the district championship.

"These boys have put in a lot of the time in the offseason," Dexter coach Kurt Lovelady said of his program's second straight district title. "They are always out here hitting and I'm glad it paid off for them today."

The Bearcats dominated Notre Dame for the get-go in doubles.

Dexter's Jacob Crumley and Tyler Stevenson beat Notre Dame's Willie Gibbs and Garrett Hasselroad 9-7 in the No. 3 doubles match. Dexter's Ethan Flowers and Addison Moore won against Notre Dame's James Stroup and Andrew West 8-5 in the No. 1 doubles match. Dexter's Zach Potts and Joshua Kohlbaker beat Notre Dame's Collin Smith and Ira Holcomb 8-2 in the No. 2 doubles matches.

Flowers beat Stroup 6-0, 7-5 in the No. 1 singles match and Moore beat Gibbs 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 4 singles match to account for Dexter's other wins.

Hesselroad beat Dexter's Will Brehmer 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 in the No. 6 singles match to account for Notre Dame's only victory.

Notre Dame finishes its season with a record of 5-8.

Dexter (11-2) plays John Burroughs (19-2) in a Class 1 sectional hosted by St. Mary's on May 21. John Burroughs beat Clayton 5-0 in the Class 1, District 4 final Wednesday. John Burroughs beat Dexter 5-0 last season in a state quarterfinal on its way to a second place finish in Class 1.

"We are looking at a team we haven't seen this year," Lovelady said. "i've talked to a couple coaches and heard they are pretty solid, so we are looking forward to a good match with them Saturday."