Mehlville Tennis Defeats St. Mary's

Mehlville's strength at the top of the line-up proved to be just enough for the Panther tennis team to defeat St. Mary's 4-3 Friday at Tower Grove Park.

It was the fourth win of the season for the Panthers, who had lost three in a row and nine of their last 10, after season-opening victories against Festus and Lutheran South.

"I was very happy with the play of the singles players today," Mehlville coach Bill Ebert said. "The top three guys have been playing well in the last week and they were especially impressive today."

Those three, senior Jeremy Sellmeyer and juniors Blake Penberthy and Christopher Becherer, lost just five total games in winning their singles matches.

Sellmeyer, improved to 10-3 for the season, with a double bagel win (6-0, 6-0) over Dragon senior Ryan Lilly at No. 1 singles.

"Jeremy has just been so steady and consistent all season," Ebert said. "He has not faltered at all."

Sellmeyer appears to be in position to take the top seed in the district tournament which will be held next month. He has beaten the top singles players from Oakville and Lindbergh.

"Those are the only guys I have played in the district," Sellmeyer said. "But the guy from Lindbergh had played the Cape Central player and he said I should be the top seed."

That, in itself, would be a huge accomplishment for the Panther senior.

"Last year I was seeded sixth at districts," Sellmeyer said. "I am so looking forward to playing districts and trying to hold my seed if I get the top seed. I wish districts were this Saturday. But I have to wait a couple of weeks and I just need to continue to work on my game."

The district seed meeting will be held next week.

"I am hitting the ball well overall," Sellmeyer said. "I never thought I would be the position of being the top seed."

Sellmeyer was dominant from start to finish Friday in his win over Lilly.

"I don't know if the guy I was playing had a tough loss yesterday or what," Sellmeyer said. "He didn't seem to have the competitive spirit and it was not an easy match to play."

Penberthy and Becherer were also dominant in their singles matches. Penberthy defeated Andrew Jarvis 6-3, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.

"I got off to a little bit of a slow start today," Penberthy said. "But I got going and played the way I wanted to play. I thought I played solidly and was consistent. It is a great feeling to get a win as a team."

Becherer beat Kyle Shaw 6-0, 6-2 at No. 3 singles to give the Panthers a commanding lead.

It would take a while before the Panthers won the clinching fourth match. Junior Tony Dees lost a very competitive match at No. 4 singles to Christopher Morris, 7-5, 4-6 (10-8).

Mehlville found its win at No. 2 doubles as freshman Robert Sieckhaus and sophomore Almir Sefic defeated Christopher Oliver and Andrew Brym 7-5, 7-5.

That was a necessary win as the Dragons won the other two doubles spots. Samuel Clancy and Andrew Sieve beat Stephen Burger and Jacob Vantrease 6-4, 4-6 (11-9) at No. 1 while Nicholas Van Valkenberg and Jordan Champion beat Benjamin Omerovic and Luke Suntrup 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3.

The Panthers have the biggest part of their season coming up. They will compete in the Suburban Conference tournament Monday - Wednesday at Webster Groves. Their flight includes the host Statesmen as well as University City and Parkway North. Sellmeyer will likely get another shot at U City standout Alex Kaczkowski, who handed him one of his three losses this season.

The district tournament, hosted by Lindbergh, will be held the next week.