High School Tennis Pictures

DEXTER, Mo. - One of the most successful boys tennis seasons in school history ended a win shy of the final four for the Dexter Bearcats Saturday afternoon.

Dexter, which was attempting to advance to the final four for the first time in school history in boys tennis, suffered a 5-0 loss to John Burroughs in a Class 1 quarterfinal.

"I knew John Burroughs was going to be good and they didn't even have their No. 1 player today, " Dexter coach Kurt Lovelady said. "You can just tell the amount of tennis their boys play in the offseason. They have tremendous forehands, backhands and serves. We look forward to watching them at the final four this week."

John Burroughs' Mark Rodgers and Ben Remis won the No. 1 doubles match against Dexter's Ethan Flowers and Noah Kronk 8-0. John Burroughs' Zale Shah and Jason Chen won the No. 2 doubles match against Dexter's Zach Potts and Josh Kohlbaker 8-1. John Burroughs' Grant Riew and Ryan Thornton won the No. 3 doubles match against Dexter's Brooks Propst and Addison Moore 8-2.

In singles action, Shah beat Flowers 6-0, 6-0 and Remis beat Kohlbaker 6-0, 6-0.

John Burroughs advanced to play Dexter with a 5-0 sectional victory against Bishop DuBourg Saturday morning at Dexter High School. Dexter also won its sectional 5-0 against St. Mary's (10-5) on Saturday morning.

"St. Mary's was definitely one of the best teams we've seen this year, " Lovelady said. "Their No. 1 doubles team was the same team we played in doubles sectionals. I knew they would be hungry and they gave Ethan and Noah all they could handle. All of our players hit the ball well and I'm a very proud coach today."

The closest doubles match featured Kronk and Flowers against St. Mary's Eric Clancy and Isaac Julius. Kronk-Flowers fell behind Clancy-Julius 5-2 before rallying for an 8-6 victory.

"Their footwork was a little sloppy early, " Lovelady said. "We've got to keep it away from the net player. We've got to get that easy first shot at the net, and St. Mary's got it at times. We started placing the ball better and hitting it deeper as the match went on and were able to beat their No. 1 team again."

Potts-Kohlbaker and Propst-Moore jumped out to 3-0 leads in their respective doubles matches against St. Mary's. Potts-Kohlbaker beat St. Mary's Craig Polette-Kevin Carosello 8-3 in the No. 2 match and Propst-Moore beat Ian Comerford-Matt O'Neil 8-5 in the No. 3 doubles match.

"We don't drop off much after our No. 1 doubles, " Lovelady said. "I think that is one of our strengths."

Potts beat Polette 6-1, 6-1 in the No. 3 singles match and Propst beat Comerford 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 5 singles match.

"Potts played probably the best singles match I've seen him play all year, " Lovelady said. "He played smart and moved the ball around. He thinks two or three moves ahead and moves his opponent to where he wants them.

"Brooks' ground strokes looked great, " Lovelady added. "He kept the ball deep against his opponent and played his game instead of his opponent's game, which was big."

Dexter finishes its season with a record of 11-1.

Kronk and Flowers continue tennis competition Friday in the individual doubles state tournament at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield, Missouri. Kronk-Flowers advanced to the Round of 16 state tournament by beating Julius-Clancy 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in an individual doubles sectional Tuesday.