Despite the tournament being held at Effingham, it will still be titled the Mattoon Tennis Tournament. 

Due to renovations to all sports facilities, the annual Green Wave tournament will be held at Effingham High School, the Community Park, and Evergreen Park. The participating schools will be Casey-Westfield, Charleston, Lincoln, Mattoon, Mt. Zion, Newton, Paris, Robinson, Shelbyville, Maroa-Forsyth, T-Town, St. Anthony, St. Thomas-More, and Urbana. The first ball is to be hit at 9:00 a.m.

Mattoon head coach Joey Boyer said that the start of the Mattoon tennis season has gone well and he is looking forward to facing some tougher competition. 

“The season has been going as expected so far, a lot of teaching and guys building experience through competition,” said Boyer. “s you know, we lost some key players last year, so our depth is not what it used to be, but I am proud of my young guys stepping up and learning those bigger roles.  The competition in practice has been outstanding.”

Mattoon lost their first two meets of the season, but Boyer said the team won some “important matches.” Tejas Zala and Ethan Bahney have won together at No. 1 doubles against some quality competition, while Boyer said Zala has “not given up a set” this year at No. 1 singles. 

Boyer said the goal is to compete for the championship trophy. 

“We have several good teams in the tourney that will compete for the trophy,” said Boyer. “Our goal is always to win each match we play, 1 game at a time and we will see how it unfolds on Saturday.”

Charleston enters the tournament with a 1-1 record. The Trojans have lost to Olney as their only loss, but head coach Jeremy Hudson calls the Tigers a quality team. 

“We had a solid start to the season,” said Hudson. “We lost to Olney which I believe to be one of the best teams in the state and beat ttown. I’m excited to see how my doubles team of DiNaso and Pschirrer do this weekend. At this point in the season they are 1-0 and I think they have the potential to make it pretty far this year.”

Hudson said he is also looking forward to the team facing some quality competition, specifically getting a look at some of the Apollo Conference teams too. 

“It’ll be nice to see how they fare this weekend,” said Hudson. “I know that Mattoon, Mt. Zion, and St Anthony have some great players and teams and Paris has a lot of depth. I’m not as familiar with the other teams, but I’m expecting a great day of tennis and I’m looking forward to getting my guys some great experience.”