The Helias Crusaders have been to the boys tennis state championships several times in the past 30 years as individuals.
Now they’re going to the state championships as a team.
Helias will face the Cape Girardeau: Notre Dame Bulldogs in the Class 2 state semifinals, with first serves at 9 a.m. today at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.
“We’ve made a lot of Elite Eights, and then we always have to travel and play a really tough team,” Helias coach Margaret Shimkus said. “This just was our year.”
Helias last reached the Final Four in 1992, when it finished fourth in the Class 1A-3A state tournament for a third consecutive season.
Helias (17-1) won the District 5 Tournament earlier this month, defeating Rolla 5-4 in the semifinals and Jefferson City 5-1 in the championship dual.
Rolla changed its lineup from its regular-season dual against Helias. That dual came down to the final singles match to keep the Crusaders’ season going.
“The boys are resilient, they went with it,” Shimkus said.
The Crusaders advanced to the Final Four with a 5-3 win May 15 against the Platte County Pirates in the state quarterfinals at the Crusader Athletic Complex.
Helias had to shift around its lineup against Platte County because Andrew Dowden was unavailable to play. Elliot Vollet was one of the players who stepped up in his absence, helping win a doubles match for the Crusaders.
“We just had to figure out a way to win,” Shimkus said.
At full strength this postseason, Helias has featured doubles pairings of seniors Ethan Foucheaux and Dowden, senior Jonah Lanigan and sophomore Coen Loethen and seniors Isaac Rackers and Lucas Woods.
Foucheaux, Dowden, Loethen, Lanigan, Rackers and sophomore Matthew Liebsch have been the Crusaders’ singles players.
Shimkus said she is bringing 10 players to the Final Four, adding players like Vollet and senior Caleb Porting as reserves.
“When you go into team competition, you’re warming up on your own,” she said. “As soon as you get out there, you spin the racquet and go.”
Cape Notre Dame (17-5) won the District 1 Tournament with a 5-1 semifinal victory against Poplar Bluff and a 5-0 title dual win against Farmington. The Bulldogs then defeated Missouri Military Academy 5-3 in the quarterfinals to reach the Final Four for the first time in program history.
During last week’s individual state tournament, Cape Notre Dame had two doubles pairings -- Thomas Southard/Eli Youngblood and Eli Peters/Eann Garder -- and one singles player -- Charlie West -- competing in Springfield.
West went 1-2, while the two doubles pairing went 0-2 for the Bulldogs.
“We obviously looked at them,” Shimkus said. “Going into Saturday’s match, we went down there to see what was going on, in addition to helping Ethan make it as far as he did.”
Foucheaux was Helias’ lone individual state qualifier. He took second place in the singles state tournament last Friday.
“Coming off my result last year of losing on the first day and not making it to the second day, it was really nice to go out there, perform well and get second place,” Foucheaux said.
Foucheaux, who will play tennis next school year at Webster University, has a 28-3 record in singles play this season. That broke his own single-season school record of 27 singles wins last season.
“This year, I changed my game up a little bit,” Foucheaux said. “I started playing more aggressive, attacking the ball more and playing offensive tennis. I think that really helped me get that one extra win, and I’m hunting for two more.”
Foucheaux clinched the quarterfinal dual against Platte County with his singles win.
“When I won that match, I just went crazy,” he said. “It was a great moment and I’m happy to share it with my team.”
Foucheaux isn’t the only Crusader with previous state experience. Dowden qualified for the Class 2 state doubles tournament in 2021 and 2022.
“Down there is a different type of pressure,” Dowden said. “You definitely feel it when you’re getting up in the morning, you’re kind of nervous. But you just have to play like you usually do. A lot of people try to hold back, try to play conservatively, but you need to play like you usually play and leave it all out there.”
Jonah Lanigan and his twin brother, Jacob, will both be competing at the state level this weekend. Jacob is running with the Helias track and field team in the Class 4 track and field state championships at Adkins Stadium.
“I don’t really see him a whole lot, because our practices and our work overlap,” Jonah Lanigan said. “It’s cool that we’re both going to state for different sports. We’ve both played different sports throughout high school. He went to state for football, so it’s cool that I get to go to state now for tennis.”
Ladue (20-1) and Barstow (12-2-1) will play this morning’s other Class 2 semifinal dual.
The semifinal winners will play for the Class 2 state championship and the semifinal losers will play for third place, with both duals scheduled for a 3 p.m. start.
“Once you get past districts, everything is a battle,” Shimkus said. “I want them to be competitive when they’re down there.”
Notes: Ladue is the defending Class 2 state champion and is playing in its 16th Final Four. Max Chen, a junior for the Rams, defeated Foucheaux 6-0, 6-1 in last week’s singles state championship match, while Nathan Chan and Amit Kadan won the doubles state title for Ladue. … Barstow finished in third place in Class 2 last season and is making its fifth Final Four appearance. Liam Groden took seventh place in the singles state tournament, and in the doubles state tournament, Sankeerth Gandhari and George Colombo finished in fifth place for the Knights. Sanjeev Adma and Aaram Salam lost in the bubble round of the doubles state tournament. … Helias’ best finish in state is taking third place in Class 1A-3A in 1984. The Crusaders are seeking their first semifinal win in five tries. “It would be a great topping to an amazing season,” Foucheaux said. “We want to go out there and get first, but no matter what happens this weekend, we’ve had a great year.”