KC-area doubles teams doing well at Missouri Class 2 tennis

SPRINGFIELD | The semifinals of the Missouri Class 2 doubles tournament will have a distinct Kansas City flavor.

Three of the four teams in today’s semifinals at the Cooper Tennis Complex are from the Kansas City area, including one semifinal between Trenton Piepergerdes and Peter Gardner of Lee’s Summit West against Michael Wiskirchen and James Lee of Liberty.

They’re joined in the semifinals by Dominic Palmieri and Thomas O’Neill of Rockhurst, who take on defending state champions Blake Buchert and Aaron Skinner of Columbia Rock Bridge.

For Wiskirchen and Lee, who played No. 1 and No. 2 singles for Liberty this season, the decision to try to go for a doubles title instead of playing singles was a decision that clearly paid off.

“We thought we’d have a better chance at doubles than at singles,” Lee said.

In Class 1, the Pembroke Hill doubles team of Chris Somers and Teddy Fitzgibbons reached the semifinals with a 6-0, 6-1 opening-round win and a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Eric Dailey and Richard Dailey of Excelsior Springs in the quarterfinals.

On the singles side, the lone KC-area representative is Pembroke Hill senior Tommy Aliber.

Aliber appears to be on a collision course for a match with Andrew Mellow of MICDS in the Class 1 finals. On Thursday, Aliber defeated the two-time defending state champ in the team division.

Before that match can become a reality, Aliber will have to get past Tony Stephenson of Jefferson City Helias.

Aliber finished second as a freshman at state and third as a sophomore before taking a season off from high school play.

Heading into the final matches of his high school career, Aliber isn’t sure he’s played much better.

“My game is as good as it’s been,” Aliber said. “I’m feeling pretty comfortable. I’m serving well and hitting well. It’s all good.”

Class 2 players from Kansas City didn’t fare as well as Aliber.

Sam Barth and Mike Merchant of Park Hill and Andrew Edmonds of Rockhurst won their first-round matches but dropped their quarterfinal matches.

submitted by COLE YOUNG - 2009-05-29 23:18:02

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