BELLEVILLE • It was hardly a surprise, but Saturday's boys tennis sectional at Belleville West turned out to be a two-team affair.
The host Maroons qualified all six entrants for the IHSA state tournament, which starts Thursday in suburban Chicago. James Stathis and Scott Segobiano defeated teammates Sam Edwards and Hayden Quandt 6-1, 6-3 to win the doubles title while Max McLean beat Belleville East's Lucas Birk 6-0, 6-0 to claim the singles championship.
The sixth state qualifier for West was Blake Hollenbeck, who defeated East freshman Aaron Skaer 6-3, 6-1 for third place in singles.
In the third-place double match, East's Ty Skaer and Scott Spitze posted a 6-4, 6-3 victory over teammates Christian Hamilton and Zach Fields.
"It's really neat that East had a good tournament too," said West coach Andy Brunner. "It turned into an East vs. West day and I thought our guys really stepped up.
"Quandt and Edwards were the underdogs according to the seed information and they really came out and proved themselves today. They're 27-4 as a doubles team and won tournament championships at Bloomington and Belleville East (in the No. 3 flight) and today they took out East's No. 1 team (Ty Skaer and Scott Spitze). I think they deserve a top-32 seed at state."
Stathis and Segobiano lived up to their No.1 seed.
"It wasn't 100 percent serious - we were just having a good time, knowing we're all going to state," Stathis said of facing teammates in the doubles final.
"We've started to hit our stride at the end of the season. Hopefully we'll play our best tennis at state, which is all we can ask for."
Stathis and Segobiano placed second in the sectional as sophomores and went on to win three matches in the winners' bracket at the state tournament. Last year they won the sectional title and won four matches in the winners' bracket at state plus one match in the back draw, good for a seventh-place tie.
"It would have been nice playing East's No. 1 team again, but playing your teammates in the sectional final is always good because it means that you both won," Segobiano said. "Hopefully we'll be at the top of our game for state.
"We won our first four rounds last year, so we want to win the first five at least this year."
It was the second year in a row that McLean won a sectional title without losing a game.
"I thought I came out and played real well," McLean said. "My physical fitness has gone up this year - I'm not getting tired after points and I'm keeping it all together throughout the whole match."
A four-time state qualifier, McLean placed 17th the past three years.
"My goal is to beat that," he said. "The more matches, the better, so I'm hoping my experience will help me at state."
After a three-set loss to Birk in the semifinals, Hollenbeck recovered nicely with a solid win over Aaron Skaer in the third-place match.
"I wish I would have won my first match today, but overall I've had a good season," Hollenbeck said. "For state, I just want to win my first match and get in the top half of the bracket and maybe get lucky and win a second round."
Belleville East qualified all six players for the first time in Dan Skaer's nine seasons as head coach. The Lancers did it with one of Skaer's sons, Aaron, subbing for Josh Radil, who was unable to play due to a stress fracture in his back.
"Our goal was to qualify all six guys, but when Josh went down, I told the guys that five wouldn't be bad," Dan Skaer said.
"Aaron got a lucky draw where he didn't have to play Max McLean. Anybody else, I thought he had a chance against them, and sure enough, he pulled it out."
Skaer was equally pleased with the rest of his players.
"Lucas Birk did a great job and pulled out a big win against Blake Hollenbeck in the semis," Skaer said. "He's come a long way for a kid that hasn't played much tennis.
"My No. 2 doubles team (Hamilton and Fields) beat Althoff 6-0, 6-0 on Friday to qualify for state. Ty and Scott were the No. 2 seed, so they had an easy route. But I'm proud of them because they've played good doubles all year and they've been team leaders.
"For state, my goal is for everybody to win a match and for one of them to make it to Friday. I think that's attainable."
