Helias' Loehr, Case advance to Class 1 doubles tournament

MEXICO, Mo. - The Helias boys tennis team is guaranteed to send two players next week to the Class 1 state championships.

Jack Loehr and Andrew Case qualified for the state doubles tournament Wednesday with a 7-5, 6-2 win against Boonville's Joshua Chrisman and Quin Gentry in the Class 1 Sectional 4 meet.

Loehr and Case will be one of 16 doubles teams vying for a state championship in the Class 1 individual state tournament, which takes place next Friday and Saturday at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.

Chrisman and Gentry won the District 7 doubles title, while Loehr and Case qualified for sectionals with a runner-up finish in District 8.

Helias competed in three of the four matches during Wednesday's sectional competition.

In the other doubles match, Helias' Jacob Cowley and Jacob Schepers lost 2-6, 3-6 to Kirksville's Bennett Hoshaw and Charles Fraser, who will join Loehr and Case at the state tournament.

In singles play, John Christianson of Helias lost 1-6, 3-6 to Moberly's Alex Fincher.

Fulton's Aiden Petterson won 6-1, 6-4 against Moberly's Carson Caddell in the other singles match. Both Fincher and Petterson advanced to the Class 1 singles state tournament, also next week in Springfield.

Helias (13-0) will continue its season as a team Saturday in the Class 1 sectionals against Kirksville (11-5) at MICDS in St. Louis. The dual is scheduled to start at 9 a.m.

The winner of that sectional will play the winner of MICDS (9-3) and St. Dominic (13-4) in the quarterfinals Saturday afternoon.