Five things to watch at the Missouri state boys tennis tournament

The Missouri state high school boys tennis championships begin today at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield. Team champions will be decided today; the singles and doubles tournament starts Friday.

1 Tommy’s back: After a year away from high school tennis, Pembroke Hill’s Tommy Aliber is back and looking for his first high school title. Aliber, who has signed with Indiana, finished second as a freshman and third as a sophomore. He’ll probably run into Andrew Mellow of MICDS, the defending Class 1 state champ, an opponent he’s very familiar with.

2 Edmonds moves to singles: Rockhurst’s No. 1 singles player, Andrew Edmonds, is playing in the singles field for the first time this season. Edmonds solidified his position as one of the top singles players in Class 2 when he defeated Nick Monaco of Blue Springs South in the district finals. Last season, Edmonds was part of a doubles team that finished fifth.

3 Northland doubles: Two of the area’s best doubles teams play in the Northland. In Class 1, brothers Eric and Richard Dailey of Excelsior Springs are undefeated heading to state. In Class 2, Michael Wiskirchen and James Lee of Liberty made quick work of their opponents in the district tournament.

4 Team title hopefuls: Rockhurst, Pembroke Hill and Excelsior Springs enter today’s team championships hoping for state titles. Pembroke Hill and Excelsior Springs meet in the Class 1 semifinals at 9 a.m. while Rockhurst takes on defending Class 2 state champion Columbia Rock Bridge. Last season, the Bruins defeated Rockhurst 5-4 in the title match.

5 Loaded field: In both Class 1 and 2, the defending champions return. John Lazenby of Joplin is the defending Class 2 champion, while Andrew Mellow of MICDS is back in Class 1.

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