Moline wins Class AA tennis sectional
Other schools came from other conferences, but with state seedings at stake, three Western Big Six schools shined at this year’s Illinois AA boys tennis sectional finals at Moline High School on Saturday.
Moline won the sectional title with 25 points, followed by Rock Island with 20 and Galesburg with 18. Geneseo was fifth with eight points.
The singles title went to Rock Island senior Chris Franco, while Galesburg’s Justin Meeker and Devon Boydston took home the doubles title.
“I am really proud of all six of our players,” Moline coach Tom Derouin said. “We won the conference title and the sectional. During the first month of the season, our players were playing like I thought they should, and then they made good progress from there.”
Moline’s doubles team of Kurt Sandholm and Tom Lazenby suffered a dual setback Saturday. After leading 5-1 in the tiebreaker set against Galesburg’s Alex Foley and Alex Gieryna in the semifinals, the Maroons duo lost 7-6 (7-4) to fall to the consolation match. There, Lazenby suffered a lower leg injury that brought the team’s day to a complete end.
The Foley-Gieryna team lost to teammates Meeker and Boydston (6-3, 6-1) in the finals.
“We feel we played very well this weekend, and we will need to play as well at state next week,” Meeker said.
Last year, Meeker and Boydston finished as all-state honorable mention in the state tournament.
In singles, Franco defeated Moline senior Ryan Rosenthal 6-2, 6-0 to improve to 31-7 on the season.
Rock Island coach Les Sammon likes Franco’s chances at state.
“(He) is playing very well, focused, and peaking at the right time,” Sammon said. “He has the confidence to do well at state. He has been there two out of the past three years, so he knows what it takes to succeed at state.”
Contact the sports desk at (563) 383-2285 or sports@qctimes.com.
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