Highland boys tennis hoping for stronger finish in MVC, to play delayed season
Like other sports teams across the Southwestern Illinois area, the announcement March 13 from the governor’s office in Springfield closings schools and suspending sports and activities was hard news to hear.
But the Highland boys tennis team was relatively prepared for such a development.
“We found out (March 13) during our practice that afternoon and that’s when they made a decision on schools and athletics that everything would be stopped for the rest of the month,” Highland coach Matt Pellock. “I think they knew that things were kind of going that way since the past couple of days (prior) things had been trending that way, so they kind of expected it.”
In the two weeks prior to the shutdown, the Bulldogs players were fortunate to get outside in nice weather and get some quality work in on the tennis courts. And the results were strong, as the looked prepared to make things happen in the 2020 season.
Eight players return from the 2019 squad that finished fourth in the IHSA Class 1A Triad Sectional meet. Junior Southerland Allen is scheduled to be the No. 1 singes player.
“Southerland has probably played the most tennis out of anybody, and he’s definitely set his sights on having a good season and hopefully making the state tournament,” Pellock said. “It looks like he’ll be our No. 1 guy for the year.”
Connor Barton, the Bulldogs’ lone senior on the roster, is set to play at No. 2 singles behind Allen.
The No. 3 singles spot is wide open at this point. Sophomores Tyler Kuntz and Alex Roach appear to be the top two candidates to take those slots. Roach and Kuntz lead a talented sophomore class that will be the core of this season’s club.
In the doubles flights, there are no set spots in the rotation. It will be an evolving work in progress.
“In the doubles, we’ll probably just be doing a lot of pairing (of players) up the line to start (the season),” Pellock said.
Allen and Barton and Kuntz and Roach played several doubles matches together last season those two pairs look to be in the mix as pairings.
“Since we (will) play so many tournaments where we’ll have a couple of guys play singles and most of the team play doubles we can definitely experiment a lot with how guys are playing together and just see how the season goes,” Pellock said.
Shooting for more state qualifiers in 2020
Last season, Highland qualified current Kaskaskia College player and HHS grad Dylan Bargetzi to the state tournament and Pellock believes the Bulldogs can get a few players to state this spring as well.
“We’ve been fortunate that we’ve had guys go to the state tournament the last two seasons and I think there’s a real possibility (of that) again this year, so that’s definitely our main goal,” Pellock said.
Before the postseason arrives, the Bulldogs plan to try to be competitive in the Mississippi Valley Conference Tournament later this season.
For now, though, Highland simply hopes the current COVID-19 situation does not end the season.
“We may find out before the end of the month what the season is gonna be,” Pellock said. “So, we’ll see.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 10:59 AM.