Published: May 15, 2008 09:39 am            

Rams seed three at Olney tennis sectional

OLNEY — The Mt. Vernon tennis team will be well represented at this year's Olney Sectional, as a pair of singles players and a doubles team have been seeded for the Olney (East Richland) Sectional, which begins this Saturday.

Coyn Mateer has been slotted as a No. 1 seed in the tournament and will have a bye into the second round, where he'll face Highland's Sam Pellock.

If he wins that match he will have the winner of Jarred Stoll of Olney and Corey Meyers from Centralia.

"If Coyn plays as he has in the last few weeks he should be in position to reach the semifinals and be assured of qualifying for his fourth straight state tournament," said Mt. Vernon tennis coach Dave Junkins.

Peter Walker will join Mateer in the singles after being seeded at No. 6.

"Peter Walker does have a tougher road, but has been playing his best tennis during the last month," Junkins noted.

Walker also has a bye and will play the winner of Dylan Prosser of Olney and Dan McGuire of Salem.

"If he wins that match he should play the No. 3 seed, Ian Wolf, with the winner qualifying for the state tournament," said Junkins. "I think Peter is the dark horse in this tournament and probably should have been seeded higher."

Blake Jennings and Tyler Knox are the two doubles hopefuls that will attempt to make a run at state.

Jennings and Knox will play a feed-in match against a team from Mascoutah, and if successful, could be in line for a rematch against the No. 4 seed, Wil Miller and Michael Wright from Centralia.

"These two teams met at Centralia earlier this month with the Centralia team winning in a third set tiebreaker.

"The winner of this match would qualify for the state tournament."

Anthony Hallam and Dan Chambliss will enter the sectional as an unseeded doubles team and will face a team from Highland. The winner will face the No. 6 seed out of Mascoutah.

"Anthony and Dan have not played together, but are both very good doubles players (and) are capable of winning both of the first two matches they play."

Other teams included in the field besides Mt. Vernon are Centralia Flora, Greenville, Highland, Lawrence, Mascoutah, Olney, Salem and Triad.

"Triad is the obvious favorite for the team championship," said Junkins, "and I would think that Mascoutah, Salem, and Mt. Vernon should challenge for second place."

        

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