Boys tennis: Moline repeats as sectional champs

By Christopher Maloney | Sunday, May 18, 2008

Moline clinched its second straight sectional championship — and first for coach Jason Jones — in the final round Saturday at Rock Island’s Shelly Weiner Memorial Tennis Courts.

The win was redemption for the Maroons, who lost the Western Big Six conference championship to Galesburg last weekend.

Moline edged the second-place Silver Streaks 29-25. Geneseo and Rock Island had 10 points each.

All four singles players and four doubles teams in Saturday’s sectional are advancing to the state finals next weekend.

“My hat’s off to Galesburg,” Jones said. “They are great competitors, and I know our guys have a lot of respect for them. I am also very proud of how our players responded after losing to Galesburg at the conference championships.”

Sophomore Ian Golden took the singles sectional title with a 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4) victory over top-seeded Austin Meeker of Galesburg.

The Maroons clinched the title when their No. 2 doubles team of Austin Boyle and Hemanth Sirandas defeated Geneseo’s Mighell Taylor and Michael Klein

7-5, 6-2 in the final round.

“After finishing second in conference, winning the sectional feels good and helps to show who’s really tops in the conference,” Boyle said.