BELLEVILLE – Six Edwardsville High School girls are headed to the IHSA State Tennis Tournament this weekend.
In the Class 2A Belleville East Sectional, Edwardsville’s Natalie Karibian and Abby Cimarolli advanced to state, Karibian winning the singles crown and Cimarolli finishing fourth; the doubles teams of Grace Desse/Morgan Colbert and Mackenzie Cadigan/Maria Mezo finished first and third respectively.
The Tigers won the team title with 33 points, with O’Fallon second at 23 and the host Lancers third with 16. Chatham Glenwood (12), Collinsville (6), Alton and Belleville West (4 each), Granite City (2) and Springfield (who failed to score) followed the top three teams.
Karibian defeated MacKenzie Shelton of O’Fallon 6-1, 6-1 in the singles final, while Cimarolli dropped the third-place match to Katie Halwachs of O’Fallon 6-4, 6-4. Desse/Colbert defeated the Lancers’ Isabel Burwitz/Chloe McIssac in the doubles final 6-1, 6-0 while Cadigan/Mezo defeated Miley Brunner/Kate Macluso of O’Fallon for third place 6-2, 6-1.
Edwardsville head girls tennis coach Dave Lipe said he thought his girls played their best tennis of the season on Friday and Saturday in the sectional. He said he looks forward to the state competition beginning Thursday. Karibian topped the No. 1 seed in the tourney in her match and Lipe said her play was nothing but stellar.
Lipe said he was excited to qualify both doubles tandems and two singles players to state, which was a goal going into the sectional. The coach said he was also proud that his girls again captured a sectional crown over a tough O’Fallon team.
Opening-round pairings will be will be posted to the IHSA web site (ihsa.org) before Thursday’s first day of the tournament.
