Following a tight start to the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 championship, the Poplar Bluff Mules saved the drama for the individual tournament.
Nathan Smith and Ben Stewart won two of their first three games after fending off a break point but didn't drop a game in winning their doubles match Wednesday. They also each won in singles play along with Brett Keele as the Mules defended their title with a 5-1 win over Farmington.
"Back-to-back (district titles) is pretty big," Poplar Bluff senior Trenton Nepean said. "It's just a lot of fun playing with these guys."
Up next is a shot at the individual district titles for singles and doubles, which will be held Thursday in Farmington.
"These guys think they can go farther than last year," Mules coach Charles Harper said. "They're all looking forward to tomorrow too."
The Mules (9-1) advanced to the team playoffs after reaching the quarterfinals last spring. They will face the same Lindbergh team that ended their run in the opening round May 20 at the District 3 champion, either Marquette or Lafayette in St. Louis County. The Flyers, 13-0 after sweeping SLUH in the District 2 final, finished third at state last year.
"I think we have that experience," Poplar Bluff senior Humza Siddiqui said. "They're tough, but if we all just believe we can win we have a shot."
Nepean and Siddiqui fell behind to start their top-seeded doubles match after forcing deuce, then won the next two games to pull ahead for good.
In the adjacent court, Stewart and Smith opened their match by going to deuce but avoiding a break point. Smith closed out the game with a winner at the net but after breaking the Knights serve, the third game also went to deuce. Stewart's over-head smash avoided a break point and the Mules got another game-point at the net to go up 3-0.
"Really, those were just little mistakes that we did," Smith said. "We knew what we needed to do to come back and finish it off."
Smith and Stewart improved to 15-3 in doubles play this spring and were the first off the court with an 8-0 win over Farmington's Dante Chamberlain and Drew Amsden.
Back on Court 1, Alex England and Drew Adams cut Poplar Bluff's lead to 4-3 but Siddiqui and Nepean won the next four games for an 8-3 win.
Siddiqui said he and Nepean were able to break England's serve and play solid in the other games to pull away.
"We knew coming out that if we had at least two (wins in doubles) we were pretty sure we could win four of the six singles," Nepean said. "We were pretty confident."
Adeesh Mishra and Brett Keele nearly made it a sweep for the Mules.
Tied at 5-all, Poplar Bluff's No. 3 doubles traded a long rally to open the game before Farmington came away with a winner. Max Kleppe and Brock Quinton took the next three points and the game for the lead then broke a 30-all tie with consecutive points to go up 7-5.
Keele served up three aces to win the next game and the Mules were up 30-15 before the Knights won the next three points to close out an 8-6 win.
Smith was already leading in the first set against Amsden in the No. 4 singles match, which he won 6-3, 6-3, as the rest of the singles took to the court.
"I felt pretty confident because our doubles did better than expected," Smith said. "We did not expect to go 8-0. That was really a confidence boost."
Keele was the next to finish, beating Quinton 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6 while Nepean and Stewart each took the first set in their matches.
With the Mules only needing one more victory to clinch the title, Siddiqui and England played a friendly match at No. 1 looking ahead to a possible rematch looming in the individual singles final.
"They were both saving it for tomorrow," Harper said.
Still, it was entertaining with four deuce points in the first seven games and long rallies in between that included some between-the-leg shots and scrambling around the court to keep points alive.
"That was fun," Siddiqui said. "Me and Alex are really good friends so it was just having a good time."
Mishra was locked in a first-set tiebreaker, leading 5-3 when play was stopped. In the semifinal win Tuesday against Cape Central, the junior was serving for match point when play ended after 96 minutes.
The Mules needed 104 minutes to finish off Farmington as Stewart won 6-2, 6-0 over Adams to remain unbeaten in singles play.
"At the end, between me and Ben it was kind of a race," Nepean said. "I pretty much took it slow most of the time."
Nepean (10-4) and Siddiqui (16-1) will represent the Mules in singles at the individual tournament while Stewart and Smith will play doubles along with Mishra and Keele, who are 10-5 this spring.
Finalists advance to the sectional tournament, which will be held early next week.