Doubles team serves up good news for Rock Bridge during tough week

Rock Bridge seniors Justin Winner and Matt Dresner ended their high school tennis careers on a high note Saturday.

Winner and Dresner, Rock Bridge’s No. 1 doubles team, placed third at the Class 2 State Championships at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield. Winner and Dresner defeated Drew and Doug Brightfield of DeSmet 6-1, 6-3.

The finish was the highest ever for the tandem, which placed fifth last season.

“We’re really happy with the way things turned out,” Winner said. “We did as good as we could have done.”

The finish by Winner and Dresner was one of the few bright spots for the Bruins this week. On Thursday, Rock Bridge lost in the semifinals and in the third place consolation match in the team state championship. It was the worst finish for Rock Bridge since the 2001 season.

“In the team competition we were obviously really bummed,” Winner said. “But we wanted to make up for it a little and it was definitely important for us to do well in this event. We are really proud.”

Thursday’s losses were not the only things on the minds of the Bruin players. Their coach, Ben Loeb, had to leave his team for St. Louis after the losses Thursday to be with his father who has Leukemia.

“We also wanted to win our last match for coach, too,” Winner said. “He was emotional on Thursday and we all wanted to do our best for him.”

Filling in for Loeb was assistant coach Bob Reyes.

“I think the group knew the situation was getting grim,” Reyes said. “His absence was an added incentive for the guys.”

Three other Bruins seniors competed in the individual state championship. Kyle Kinderknecht competed in singles and Andrew Darkow and Dennis Smith competed in doubles.

Kinderknecht lost his first round match to Brett Waite of Kirkwood 6-1, 6-0. He then won his first round consolation match 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 against Brad Allison of Rockwood Summit. Kinderknecht ended his tournament with a loss in the consolation quarterfinals to Lindbergh’s Kyle O’Leary 7-5, 6-4.

Darkow and Smith also bowed out in the consolation quarterfinals of their doubles bracket. They lost to Rockhurst’s Zack Frisch and Taj Harrison 6-4, 6-3 in the first round before defeating Francis Howell North’s Eric McCollough and Kirk McElheny 6-1, 6-2. Darkow and Smith then lost to Kirkwood’s John Schlotz and Matt Waite 7-6 (7-2), 6-0.

“We were really happy with the way all the guys played,” Reyes said. “Everybody who gets here is good, so for all our guys to get wins is good for our program.”