The Salem doubles team of seniors Logan Hubbs and Gunnar Konkel advanced to the final round of the Class 1 Individual State Tournament by defeating St. Charles’ Liam Cassidy/Isiac Salamone 6-0, 6-4 in sectional competition Saturday at Duchesne High School in St. Charles.
Hubbs/Konkel now move on to the 16-team Class 1 Individual State Tournament 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.
According to Salem coach Will Hubbs, it’s just the fourth doubles team to advance to the state tournament in Tiger history. Hubbs/Konkel joins Steven Morton/Arthur Rekowski in 2011, Matt Sirois/Jonathon Hambacker also in 2011 and Casey Davison/Jennifer Holmes in 2014 as state-qualifying Salem duos.
“I am really proud of these boys and extremely excited for them,” Will Hubbs said. “To have a team advance, and for one of them to be my son, is just absolutely awesome. I cannot even describe how awesome that is. This is a great payoff for all the hours on court and all the matches they have played. I’m really excited for them.
“(At sectionals) we played a tough team from St. Charles, but Logan and Gunnar were really ready to play. They jumped all over that team and won the first set 6-0. Gunnar was finishing shots at the net and Logan was crushing his serves and forehands. St. Charles settled in to start the second set and took a 4-3 lead, but Gunnar and Logan won the next three games to end the match.”
In the Class 1 District 8 Team Tournament the second-seeded Tigers shut out third-seeded Houston 5-0 May 8 in the semifinals then lost to top-seeded Osage 5-0 in the championship match May 9 at Osage Beach.
The Tigers finished the season with a 10-6 dual-meet record, the fifth 10-win season in school history.
Here are the team district results, with the Salem players listed first:
Osage 5, Salem 0 – Doubles: Hubbs/Will Christesen lost to Damon Lemke/Asher Adkins, 8-5. Lawson Petty/Konkel lost to Vlad Nahapetyan/Trevor Barry, 8-4. Cole Coursen/Clayton Headrick lost to Luke Wersching/Mike Stipanitc, 8-4. Singles: Petty lost to Nahapetyan, 6-2, 6-4. Headrick lost to Barry, 6-2, 6-2.
Salem 5, Houston 0 – Doubles: Hubbs/Konkel beat Conner McKinney/Kolton Gayer, 8-4. Petty/Christesen beat Maggie Wolfe/Alie Campbell, 8-1. Coursen/Headrick beat Halie Hamilton/Riley Wilson, 8-1. Singles: Petty beat McKinney, 6-2, 6-3. Konkel beat Gayer, 6-2, 6-4. Petty beat Wolfe, 6-3, 6-2. Christesen beat Campbell, 6-1, 6-0. Coursen beat Hamilton, 6-0, 6-0. Headrick beat Wilson, 6-1, 6-0.
