St. Aloysius didn’t win every bracket at the MAIS District 3-AAA tennis tournament, but it did well enough for its tastes.

The Flashes won in four of the tournament’s nine divisions, and finished second in four others to claim the team title Tuesday at Halls Ferry Park. The top two finishers in each bracket advanced to the Class AAA South State tournament May 1, which will also be at Halls Ferry Park.

The winners for St. Al were Natalie Jones in No. 2 girls singles; Chris Albert in No. 1 boys singles; sisters Ashley and Anne Stewart Piazza in No. 1 girls doubles; and Taylor Chewning and Ashley Jarratt in No. 2 girls doubles.

None of those players or doubles teams dropped a set while winning two matches apiece.
Only Albert, who went to a tiebreaker in the first set of the championship match against Riverfield’s Travis Rawls, was seriously tested. Albert wound up pulling away from Rawls in the second set by taking the last four games to win 7-6, 6-2.

“Overall, the team did well. Even the one person that did not advance played well. We were happy to get all of our seniors out of the district,” St. Al coach Rick Shields said.

One of the more noteworthy results for St. Al came from its runner-up ranks. Senior Adrienne Eckstein, who has won a doubles state championship in her high school career, advanced beyond the district tournament in singles for the first time in three years.

Eckstein lost 6-3, 6-1 to Park Place’s Reagan Savell in the championship match. Savell had knocked Eckstein out in the first round several times in the past, but a favorable draw kept them on opposite sides of the bracket until the finals this time.

“I hadn’t made it out of district since since freshman year, so that’s pretty good,” Eckstein said.

Also advancing for St. Al were Adam Eckstein and Miles Harris in No. 1 boys singles; Ryan Jarratt and Ethan Naron in No. 2 boys singles; and Logan Young and Carson Collier in mixed doubles.

Although the competition will ratchet up at next week’s South State tournament, the Flashes will have one advantage for the rest of the postseason — homecourt. Not only is the South State tournament at Halls Ferry Park, the Class AAA state tournament is there as well on May 9.

“Any time you can sleep in your own bed and eat your own cooking without moving, or getting up early in the morning and traveling, that’s always a plus,” Shields said. “We’re happy to have these 14 courts. That’s why they come here.”