Sikeston singles player Dan Agung, seen here in the Class 1 singles tournament held in Springfield, finished sixth in the state. (Submitted photo) [Click to enlarge]

By Mollie Landers ~ news@standard-democrat.com

SIKESTON -- From the beginning of the season, there were high expectations for Sikeston's boys tennis team.

"I knew I had several people coming back. I thought we d have a chance to win districts and send a few people to state," coach Brian James said.

"Our goals were to go undefeated in the regular season, win districts, go to state and reach the second day of the state tournament," doubles player Charlie Jones said.

"A place in state was the goal teamwise and individually," singles player Dan Agung said.

In the singles tournament, Agung won his first match of the weekend in three sets, defeating Spencer Newman of Thomas Jefferson, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. He then fell to the loser s bracket, losing to Jonathan Pang of Clayton 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. Agung advanced with a win against Jordan Bridges of Logan-Rogersville, 6-4, 2-0.

"I think I got as far as I should've gotten. There was some tough competition. But Sikeston had a good showing," Agung said.

On Saturday, he easily advanced with a win over Easton Stoops of West Plains, 6-1, 6-3. The win placed Agung in the fifth-place match against Jay Gillespie of Pembroke Hill. Agung lost in two sets, 6-1, 6-0, finishing sixth in the tournament.

"Dan was really focused and he proved that he was one of the best in singles players in the state," James said.

Matthews and Jones accomplished all of their goals as well. They went undefeated in the regular season, and won districts by beating Farmington's No. 1 doubles team, which sent them to the state tournament. Their only loss before the state tournament was to John Burroughs during team regional play.

James noted that while he usually takes a single and a doubles team to the state tournament, they often do not fare as well as they did this year.

"We usually don't have that kind of success," he said.

This was the first year Matthews and Jones played doubles together since 2005, their freshman year. In 2005 they placed fifth at districts. In the years between, Matthews played doubles with Sammy Zhao, a 2007 graduate, making two state appearances.

"I'd gone to state the past two years but had never won a match at state, so I was looking forward to winning one," Matthews said.

The doubles team started the weekend strong, winning their first match against Chris Hassien and Ethan Mobley of Hannibal, 6-3, 6-2. They then lost to Paul Amiri and Zach Merkle of Duchesne, 6-2, 6-2, placing them in the loser s bracket. Jones called the Duchesne duo, who finished third in the tournament, their toughest competition.

However, Matthews and Jones advanced to Saturday play by defeating Alex Goel and John Stillman of John Burroughs in three sets, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

While the team reached their goal of playing on Saturday, they fell to Eric Dailey and Thilo Mehlin of Excelsior Springs, 6-1, 6-3.

"I thought we played well pretty much the whole time," Matthews said. "We ran into some " tough competition."

"They [Jones and Matthews] had a pretty solid year all year long," James said. "It's tough once you get up there but they really performed quite well. They really picked up their game and played the best they had all year. All three were very deserving."