Craig sends two doubles teams to sectional tennis
JANESVILLE — Janesville Craig’s Chris Matteson and Jace Fenton were on a mission in Flight 1 doubles of the WIAA Division 1 boys tennis subsectional here Monday at Palmer Park.
Matteson and Fenton defeated No. 2 seed Nick Gilbank and Jason Knutson of Janesville Parker, 6-1, 6-3, to advance to the sectional at Lake Geneva Badger at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
The Craig subsectional matches up with the Kenosha Bradford subsectional, which is being played today.
A victory Thursday will earn Matteson and Fenton a berth in the state tournament. This will be their first sectional appearance.
The top four from the sectional in Flight 1 singles and doubles and the Flight 2 champions advance to the May 29-31 state individual tournament at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.
The sectional team champion qualifies for the June 6-7 state team tournament at Nielsen Stadium.
Matteson and Fenton were eager take on Parker in the qualifying match.
“We were just hoping to draw Parker,” Craig coach Gary Hallowell said. “We didn’t fare that well at the conference meet, and we wanted to prove what happened Saturday was kind of a fluke.’’
“They got the momentum right away and never let it go,” Hallowell said of Matteson and Fenton.
Craig’s Kenny Durfee and Stewart Winter defeated Milton’s Travis Morrison and Dalton Miatke, 6-1, 6-3, for a sectional berth in Flight 2 doubles.
“They complement each other very well,” Hallowell said of Durfee and Winter. “They didn’t have a chance to play a lot of matches together because injuries kept them apart.’’
But now, they’re moving on to the next level.
Meanwhile, Parker was left without any sectional qualifiers.
Lake Geneva Badger will carry 20 team points into its sectional.
The Badgers qualified four singles and two doubles teams. Elkhorn, second with 14 points, advanced three singles players.
Badger’s Alex Groth, Dean Schwefel, Robert Johnson and Dakota Conell each won singles qualifying matches. The Badgers’ Augie Geldemann and Dillon Gaddi advance in Flight 1 doubles, while Alex Chironis and Henry Temple earned a Flight 2 sectional berth.
Elkhorn’s Jorge Ruiz, Shane Baumann and Sean Litza each won singles qualifying matches.
Milton’s Rob Watson, a state qualifier last year, again advances to the sectional in Flight 1 singles. Watson defeated Craig’s Ben Timblin, 6-0, 6-0, in the qualifying match.
Complete sectional results in area tennis file on this Web site.
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