HHS doubles team qualifies for state

Andrew Roach and Nathaniel English qualified in doubles for the class 1A state tournament, winning both of their matches on day one of the Triad sectional.

"I'm really proud of how these two played in the most important day of tennis of their careers," said Highland coach Matt Pellock. "Both guys had great seasons, and it will be a lot of fun to see them finish it in Chicago."

Roach had been struggling through a back injury that forced him not to play the conference tournament the weekend prior.

"Being able to come back to play his last couple of regular season matches and find his game again for the sectional was a special thing to see," Pellock said. "I was hopeful, because I knew that both guys would play hard for each other to get through to the state tournament."

Roach and English earned a No. 3 seed in the doubles draw at the sectional and drew two tough match-ups in their second round and quarterfinal matches. They had to play the second doubles team of Mascoutah and then the second doubles team from Triad, who were the fifth seed.

"After a first round bye, Mascoutah had a doubles team capable of being a tough match for us in the first match, but Nathaniel and Andrew were sharp early on and played smart, tough points to win a convincing 6-2, 6-1," Pellock said.

They go on to play some of the best tennis they have all year in a long, three-set battle against Triad's Adam Minter and Matt Lehr.

Roach and English got off to a quick start, getting up 3-0 in the first. They then fought off a surge from Triad to win a first set tiebreaker. After having a late lead in the second set, up 4-3, Triad won three straight games to take the second set. A key in the match was getting the first game of the third set, which really took away Triad's momentum.

"Andrew and Nathaniel were able to rally ahead to a 4-0 lead and finished with the 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 victory," Pellock said. "I was most impressed with the way these two handled the surges from Triad, and stayed composed throughout the match. Both Nathaniel and Andrew executed great consistency from their service games, always forcing Triad to have to make a good return. And they both were able to use their strengths."

After another late rally from Triad in the third set, English made his two best lobs of the year, hitting controlled topspin over Triad and the final shot landed right on the line to win the match.

"Nathaniel was terrific at the net, and Andrew fired consistent groundstrokes, forcing tough volleys and setting up Nathaniel at net," Pellock said.

Two more HHS teams make it to their quaterfinal matches.

Tyler Baublitz and Dacoda Reichmann also made the quarterfinals in doubles. They had a convincing defeat against the second team from Civic Memorial, winning 6-2, 6-1. They would go on to play the No. 1 doubles from Triad of Sean Froidcouer and Jaden Henderson, losing 0-6, 0-6.

"That was a tough match, but it was great to see the both of them get another win in the sectional to end their tennis careers," Pellock said. "Both guys had great ends to their seasons, both winning their final regular season matches against Centralia and Collinsville, and Tyler had an excellent conference tournament the previous weekend winning third place in singles."

Dylan Bargetzi won a long first-round match against the No. 1 singles player from Belleville Althoff, 6-4, 6-4. He would then play Triad's second singles player, Reese Naylor, whom he also played Reese weekend and was outmatched in that meeting.

"Dylan came out hitting like he is capable and really frustrated Reese to gain a 4-0 lead. Over the next couple games, Dylan was struggling to find the same ball he was hitting earlier, which led to a 7-5, 6-2 from Reese," Pellock said. "It was encouraging to see Dylan's A-game come through after an injury plagued season. He will be very motivated to come back for his final season and with the potential to be one of the top players in the tournament."

Connor Barton played in the other singles spot for HHS and played the No. 4 seed from Mascoutah, Jared Ceule.

"Connor was playing a much more experienced player, but Connor was excellent in making Ceule work in the match, especially in the first set, where Connor made it a tight set, coming back from 1-4 to make it 3-4," Pellock said. "Connor has a lot of tennis left and loves playing and getting better. Looking forward to more significant tennis from him coming up."

This story was originally published May 22, 2018 at 10:52 AM with the headline "HHS doubles team qualifies for state."