In winning 75 percent of its dual meets this season, the successes of the Wentzville Holt boys tennis team have come via a best-case scenario.
That's because the wins haven't come thanks to the play of just singles players or doubles teams. It's been the result of both groups playing at a high level.
The good thing for Holt (6-2) is that the same guys can now play both singles and doubles.
"It has been a pretty even mix so far," Holt coach Jake Adams said. "We've been fairly strong in singles but we can double back now and have those guys play doubles. We've been pretty consistent in both so far this year."
Leading the way for Holt in singles matches is junior Jacob Ostby. He is a perfect 8-0.
"He's been doing a phenomenal job," Adams said. "I'm happy with the way he's played."
Adams has also gotten strong play from juniors Conner Bunch and Kevin Ashley at Nos. 1 and 2 singles, respectively.
"Conner is 5-2 and Kevin is 6-2 so far this season," Adams said. "Those guys have been on varsity all three of their years. Even though they are only juniors, they have a lot of experience. Conner qualified for state last year."
At No. 4 singles for the Indians is sophomore Sam Wadsworth, who owns a 6-2 record.
In doubles play, Holt has benefited from the pairing of Bunch and Ashley as the team's top doubles tandem.
"We have a bunch of guys who can play anywhere in Nos. 3 through 6," Adams said. "We're still working to find out who fits best there. We're looking for that best combination."
Holt opened the season with five straight dual match wins. The victories came over St. Dominic, Fort Zumwalt East, St. Charles, Francis Howell and Duchesne.
The five-match winning streak to start the season was something that made Adams very happy.
"Our consistency has been our biggest strength in most matches so far," Adams said. "We came up a little bit short against Howell North and Howell Central, but those guys are at the top of the Gateway Athletic Conference right now. We won our first three matches of the year 8-1, 9-0 and 9-0 and we came out of the box really aggressively. I was happy with that."
Most recently, Holt defeated Timberland by a 7-2 score April 13.
Even with a convincing win over its sister school, Adams says that he still hopes for more.
"I think we still have some work to do prior to our final push this season," Adams said. "We have a pretty tough district with Francis Howell. Now that our district also crosses over with Howell North and Howell Central, we've got our work cut out for us. Conner and Kevin will most likely be playing singles in districts. Conner has played the two kids who finished toward the top in singles (in the district last year) and he went 1-1 against them. I definitely think he's in that mix for singles."
