Benton’s Ridge Stagner, Maryville’s Will Sheil and Kyler Skidmore win MEC Tennis Championships

(ST. JOSEPH, MO) - The Midland Empire Conference high school boys tennis championships were held Wednesday morning at the Noyes Tennis Courts.

In the doubles championship, the Maryville pair of senior Will Sheil and junior Kyler Skidmore bested Savannah's Tyler Foster and Aiden Davies in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. It's the second straight MEC doubles championship for the Spoofhound pair.

"It's awesome. Not only our (Maryville) team but just my doubles partner as well, we played great together," said Sheil. "Every match is just something new and it's always fun."

"A little bit of a slow start for us today, but just throughout the day we kept getting better and better and we saw that in the championship winning 6-1, 6-1," said Skidmore. "It's just so fun to share the court with him and I'm excited for districts on Friday."

The Maryville pair of senior AJ Dinsdale and sophomore Nathan Walter took third place in doubles with an 8-3 score over Bishop LeBlond's Peter Bui and Ethan Nguyen.

In the MEC boys singles championship, Benton senior Ridge Stagner bested Bishop LeBlond freshman Anthony Tabor, 6-1, 6-1. It's the first MEC title for Stagner, the #2 ranked tennis player in all of Class 1.

"It feels really good. I thought I played pretty well. I tried to be more consistent, more than I've been in the past, so it worked out," said Stagner. "I was still able to keep my intensity and stay aggressive while being consistent at the same time, which was a good thing for me, it gives me more confidence going further into this season."

Maryville senior Andrew Ferris took third place in singles with an 8-3 score over Savannah junior Landon Smith.

The Class 1 District 8 Individual Tournament will be right back at Noyes Tennis Courts on Friday, May 1st.