Macomb High’s Marc and Alex Simmons are headed back to the Illinois High School Association Class 1A State Tennis Finals.
The duo finished in the top four at this past weekend’s Class 1A Sectional in Jacksonville, earning a second straight trip to state.
Seeded second out of 16 teams, the Bomber duo defeated Jacksonville High’s Eli Helmich and Riley Hager, the No. 9 seed, in the opening round by scores of 6-1, 6-3.
The quarterfinal round saw the Simmon brothers defeat Jerseyville’s Lincoln Diamond and Jaron Decker, the No. 13 seed, by scores of 6-3, 6-0.
A state berth guaranteed, Marc and Alex Simmons faced No. 3 seed Nikash Madanagopal and Tripp Tomko of Chatham-Glenwood in the semifinals. The Bomber pair posted a 6-3, 6-1 victory, reaching the regional finals.
The Simmons brothers faced top-seeded Talha Arshad and Aarav Petel of Chatham- Glenwood in the title match with Arshad and Petel winning 6-1, 6-1.
A year ago, the brothers were seeded third at Dunlap and eventually finished third in securing a berth to the state finals.
Carter Ingledue and Kai Yoshimura also played doubles representing the Bombers.
Entering as the No. 12 seed, the duo were defeated by Quincy Notre Dame’s Peter Damm and Jacob Damm in the opening round by scores of 6-2, 6-1.
The Damms, seeded 15th, were defeated by Madanagopal and Tomko in their quarterfinal match 6-0, 6-0.
Meanwhile, Owen Kennedy and Jaydn Glaue represented MHS in singles play, both dropping their opening-round matches.
Kennedy was defeated by No. 6 seed Ryan Joehl of Alton Marquette 6-0, 7-5 in his match, while Glaue lost to Jerseyville’s Noah Borkowski 6-3. 6-4.
Joehl and Borkowski both lost their quarterfinal contests.
In the team standings, Chatham-Glenwood took the team title with 27 points.
Jacksonville H.S. was next with nine points, followed by Marquette Catholic (Alton) (eight), Jerseyville (Jersey) (six), Macomb (six), Hillsboro (four), Quincy Notre Dame (two), Bunker Hill/ Staunton (0) and Mendon Unity (0).
The Simmons brothers will head to Palatine to begin state tourney play on Thursday.
The top four singles players and top four doubles teams from all 16 sectionals around the state advance to the Class 1A State Finals, scheduled for May 28-30.
A year ago, the Simmons brother posted a record of 2-2 at the state finals.
More info on this year’s state finals can be found at ihsa.org
