The 2021 SLUH tennis season came to a heartbreaking finish last week at John Burroughs, where the Jr. Bills were beaten quickly by Burroughs’s state-ready team in the District final. Losing 0-5, the match was a disappointing end to an otherwise impressive season put together by SLUH. 

Before Districts began last week, the Jr. Bills finished MCC conference play with a dominant victory in the MCC tournament, which took place at Chaminade and CBC on May 6. Following a rain out for the first day of the tournament, SLUH headed into the tournament confident, and rightfully so. After beating all of their MCC rivals this year during the season, the varsity players were excited to compete for the trophy.

The results were just as SLUH had hoped, as singles wins from juniors Gus Tettamble and Henry Dowd and sophomore Luke Gund as well as a doubles win from junior Jake Marison and sophomore Josh Lombardi propelled the Jr. Bills to a first place finish. The tournament win was the second in a row for SLUH, who won in 2019 and likely would have won in 2020 had it not been for Covid.

After beating the MCC schools, next on the list for SLUH Tennis was Team Districts, where they admittedly faced an uphill battle against some deep competition. After a first-round bye, though, SLUH hosted Lindbergh and dominated with strong net play and serves. The match got off to an especially hot start as the No. 1 doubles team of Tettamble and Dowd won 8-1. No. 2 doubles, played by Nadreau and Gund, and No. 3 doubles, played by Marison and Lombardi, followed suit, as the duos won 8-5 and 8-6, respectively. 

After notching three wins in doubles, the Jr. Bills needed only two singles wins to get to the five needed to advance, and those came from Nadreau and Gund, who were the first of SLUH’s six singles players to finish. The win was a big morale boost for the team.

“My favorite match for sure was districts against Lindbergh. It was big, we had the whole SLUH team cheering us on. It got intense and it got heated, but it was a really fun match and we ultimately came up with the win,” said Dowd.

Next, though, was a much tougher challenge. When the Jr. Bills last travelled to John Burroughs weeks ago, they lost 1-8, carried by Tettamble’s lone singles win. Even with that in mind, the team still had faith in their play. 

Things got off to a rocky start, though. The Jr. Bills quickly dropped Nos. 2 and 3 doubles, losing 1-8 in both matches. Even Tettamble and Dowd could not pull out a win against Burroughs’ top two players, who are the favorite to win doubles at the individual state tournament this year. With their backs now against the wall, singles didn’t go much better. Despite strong plays from No. 1 seed Tettamble and No. 3 seed Gund, decisive singles wins from Burroughs against Lombardi and Dowd ended the Jr. Bills hopes at a team state title this year. The loss was disappointing, but Dowd still appreciated the opportunity to play.

“It was a good season, with all the adversity this year it was good just to have something back to normal and I feel like tennis gave us that opportunity,” he said. “It was a good year.”

Not all of SLUH’s players will be packing their bags after the Burroughs loss, though. Tettamble, following his win in the individual district tournament, will be headed to Springfield to play at State, which starts today. 

At Districts, Tettamble faced Lindbergh’s Brian Kim, who proved tough competition throughout this season. Tettamble ultimately won the District final 6-4, 7-5 pushing his record to 2-0 on the season against Kim. 

“It was a good win,” said Tettamble. “I had already qualified for state before that match but I treat every match the same: I’m always trying to win. I play (Kim) a lot, more than I would like to. He always plays really well when we play against each other, we feed off each other so it was definitely a good win.”

Heading into the State Tournament, Tettamble has been especially conscious about his body, as he has been playing through injury for much of the season.

“I’m excited and I’m ready. My muscles are feeling good, feeling nice and loose. I’ve been trying to do my best now to prepare so I have less things to worry about when I get to Springfield,” he said.

Tettamble especially noted his wrist injury, which has forced him to change his play style significantly and even caused some concern for his state run earlier this season. Now though, he feels better about his chances.

“I hit backhands for the first time on Saturday, but I’m not hitting them hard yet and it’s not my same swing,” he said. “I’ve had to change a lot so my wrist can handle it but I still probably won’t hit it in my matches because the new way I’ve been playing, without hitting backhands, has been throwing people off and it’s been working.” 

If all goes well for Tettamble, he will play for the State championship this Friday. His team, meanwhile, will be supporting him from Oakland Avenue. 

“I know Gus can do well,” said Dowd. “He’s just gotta keep playing like he’s been playing all season and I have no doubt he can win State.”