Strength in singles lead Belleville East past Belleville West
BELLEVILLE Belleville East sophomore Max Skaer defeated Drew Boyles of Belleville West and five teammates also won singles matches on Wednesday as the Lancers earned an 8-1 victory in a Southwestern Conference tennis match.
One of the top players in the SWC for the second straight season, Skaer jumped out to a quick lead over Boyles and was never threatened as he went on for a 6-2, 6-2 win.
“Max worked very hard in the offseason. Now he is seeing the benefits of that hard work. He’s had a very good season up to this point,” Lancers coach Dan Skaer said.
Christian Cowulich defeated Derek Henke 6-0, 6-2 in the No. 2 singles match while Ethan Pickard, Dylan Friedman, Jacob McQueen and Carter Baldus also posted straight set wins for the Lancers, who improve to 11-3 in dual matches.
Henke and Boyles, the reigning sectional champions in doubles and one of the top combinations in southern Illinois, did provide West (1-8) with its only highlight of the night.
“Singles wise, I thought we played very well. We didn’t lose a set. But there are still some things we need to work on in doubles. Things like our first serve and our service returns. But we’re playing well. We just have to keep getting better,” Dan Skaer said.
Henke and Boyles defeated Cowulich and Baldus 7-6, 6-2 to win the No. 1 doubles flight. Zack Buescher and Max Skaer won the No. 2 doubles match for East while Dylan Friedman and Jacob McQueen completed the 8-1 win with a victory at No. 3 doubles.
“They were fired up about the match, came out with a lot of emotion and they were simply over-hitting the tennis ball,” West coach Andy Brunner said. “Once they settled in and just played their game, they were much better off. The wins and losses (1-8) aren’t what we wanted. But we’re playing a brutally tough scheduled with two-thirds of our team playing their first year of varsity tennis. As long as we see improvement, we’ll be just fine.”
This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 9:08 PM with the headline "Strength in singles lead Belleville East past Belleville West."