Edwardsville looks to shine on the courts
Ttate@yourjournal.com
The Edwardsville Tigers girls tennis team found a new No. 1 player this fall.Freshman Tess Severin will replace Annie Hall at the No. 1 singles spot. Hall competed in singles at the state tournament last fall.
"She played a lot of tennis," Lipe said of Severin. "She works very hard to be No. 1. She hasn't lost a challenge match all year, singles or doubles. We're working really hard to try to prepare her for what's in front of her. She played in a lot of tournaments to get to this point. I think she's in for a year full of challenges and excitement and success and learning. I think she'll do all of those four things."
Severin will play for an Edwardsville team that includes four seniors and two juniors. Emma Birky, Shannon Colligan, Jordan Myers and Liz Otto make up the Tigers' senior class and Jordan Kellerstrass and Gabby Blanton are the juniors.
Another freshman, Paige Sturley, also earned a spot in the varsity lineup.
"All four of our seniors are working hard to provide some leadership for the 22 girls we've got on our team," Lipe said.
Colligan is the only player on the Edwardsville varsity roster who has state tournament experience. Last year, she played doubles with Lauren McCain at the state tournament.
The Tigers will look to win their first Southwestern Conference championship since 2001, when they shared the league title with Belleville West. Edwardsville finished second in the conference for the sixth straight year.
"I think the conference is going to be very competitive this year," said Lipe, whose team started its conference season on Tuesday at Belleville East. "There are a lot of teams with a lot of depth. We got a lot of teams with some outstanding players like Granite City and Alton, Belleville East, O'Fallon and Belleville West. It's going to be a very competitive year in the conference and I think we'll be right in the middle of it. I think everybody's going to be really competitive this year."
The Tigers will play in the Heather Bradshaw Tournament on Friday and Saturday at Edwardsville. It's a 27-team tournament that includes New Trier, St. Joseph's Academy, Granite City, Collinsville, O'Fallon and Alton.
"Heather Bradshaw was an assistant coach who died tragically in a car crash five years ago," Lipe said. "We've been honoring her memory by changing our fall invitational to the Heather Bradshaw Memorial. It raises some good money for her scholarship, which Annie Hall (Edwardsville's No. 1 player last year) won last year."
Last year, Edwardsville won the sectional championship for the 11th year in a row. The Tigers qualified two singles players and two doubles teams to state.
