Pair of QHS doubles teams punch tickets to Class 2A state tourney, will play in sectional semifinals

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — A pair of Quincy High School doubles teams potentially are on a championship collision course at the Class 2A Edwardsville boys tennis sectional — just like they were during the Western Big 6 Conference tournament last week at Moline.

If that doesn’t come to fruition, both tandems are still headed to the state tournament.

The second-seeded duo of Kael Holzgrafe and Drake Dodd and the third-seeded tandem of Surya Reddy and Ethan Stark reached Saturday’s semifinals by winning two matches apiece Friday. By doing so, both teams qualified for the state tournament, which begins May 29 in the Chicagoland area.

Holzgrafe and Dodd started with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Alton’s Alex and Nick Tuetken. In the quarterfinals, they defeated Belleville West’s Dilan Patel and Brice Sansocie 6-1, 6-0.

Holzgrafe and Dodd will face the fifth-seeded Edwardsville duo of John Almos and Lucas Rudd in the semifinals.

Reddy and Stark beat Granite City’s Alex Escobar and Merik Martinez Vonderlage 6-0, 6-0 in their first match and beat Belleville West’s Jay Naylor and Landon Kinder 6-1, 6-7, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals, Reddy and Stark will face the top-seeded Edwardsville duo of Shaefer Bates and Isaac Chelboun.

In the singles bracket, Quincy’s Arrow Crist beat Belleville West’s Joel Kurfman 6-1, 7-5 in the first round and lost to O’Fallon’s Derek Guetterman 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. The Blue Devils’ Marshall Mayfield lost to second-seeded Cole Beard of O’Fallon 6-0, 6-0.