And for the last two years they have. Currently 4-0 this season, Hamilton and Stumne will carry a 70-19 career mark into their city showdown with Belleville West on Wednesday. With the prestigious Moline Invitational set for this weekend and the 16-team Belleville East Invitational scheduled for April 24-25, Stumne and Hamilton will be tested often.
“We haven’t played a lot of matches yet this season and we’ve been doing some different things with our singles lineup. But with (Belleville West) and the two tournaments we have in the next two weeks, they will get some high quality matches,’’ Lancers coach Dan Skaer said. “Finishing in the top 12 and getting to the third day of the state finals doesn’t happen very often. Chase and Jacob opened some eyes last year.’’
Neither Hamilton or Stumne have played tennis very long. Stumne, whose brother Corey Stumne played at East and teamed with Drew Feder to place eighth doubles at the state finals one year, grew up playing baseball and didn’t play competitive tennis until the eighth grade. Hamilton has played just slightly longer.
“About six years, I guess. I played baseball, basketball, soccer and I even bowled,’’ Hamilton said. “One day, I picked up a racquet and just fell in love with the sport.
“I like playing singles, but I like doubles more. I like the team aspect of it. The dynamics of it. It’s just so much more energized then singles in my view.
Both players have similar weaknesses and strengths. Neither Stumne or Hamilton possess the overpowering serve or forehands which whistle into corners or land inches inside the baseline.
But both Stumne and Hamilton are tenacious competitors with the ability to play at the net and the speed and quickness to run down any shot.
“They are the best defensive tennis players I’ve ever had here at East,’’ Skaer said. “Chase (Stumne) has the best hands at the net since probably Drew (Feder) played here seven or eight years ago now. Jacob is our athlete. He’s our acrobat. He has great speed and gets everything back. A guy will hit what would be a winner against anybody else, but Jacob finds a way to get the ball back on court.
“Plus they are great friends as well. That’s a huge part of their success. If they have a weakness, its that they don’t win many easy points. They have to work hard for every point they get.’’
While older brother Corey Stumne was a standout tennis player at East, Chase Stumne had no desire to follow in his footsteps. At least in the beginning.
“I hated tennis. I was a baseball player and that was my passion. At least until one morning when I woke up and decided I hated baseball,’’ Stumne said. “My dad thought I needed something to do in high school and so when I was in the eighth grade is when I started playing tennis.
“I’ve worked hard on my game over the last few years and have really improved my serve and my mental game over the last year. You have to have a positive outlook and the confidence that if you work hard and believe that you can be successful.. My serve has gotten more consistent and Jacob and I are both good at the net.
Unlike Stumne, Hamilton’s goal of a top 4 finish may be a bit more realistic. But Hamilton does agree that a positive mental outlook both before and during the match is a key to their success.
“ just think its the chemistry that we have. We’ve known each other for a long time and we’re good friends off the court as well,’’ Hamilton said. “We just don’t let things get us down. If we hit a bad shot or have an occasional bad game, its more positive then negative. It’s like ‘how can we play the next point better.’
We just try to scrap. We try to get every ball back on the court and play every point as well as we can.
Both players will continue to play tennis at the college level. Hamilton will attend Milliken University in Decatur and will major in pre-pharmacy. Stumne will attend Harding University in Searcy, Ark. where he will major in biology.
Junior Nick Hemann scored 14 points Tuesday as the Explorers, ranked seventh in the new Class 3A state poll, defeated Highland 48-37 to improve to 25-0.
“We knew it was going to be a big game against an MVC (Mississippi Valley Conference) team. We just came here with high energy on the defensive end,” said the 6-foot-6 Hemann, who missed his first two shots before connecting on his final seven.
With Hemann and 6-7 junior Jake Hall patrolling the paint, the Bulldogs turned to 3-pointers, with little success. They were 6 of 26 from beyond the arc and 12 of 43 overall (28 percent).
“Every single day, the first thing we work on is defense,” Hall said. “We don’t go straight into offense and work on our plays. We go straight into defense because that’s what wins us all our games. Without our great defense that we have right now, we wouldn’t be 25-0. We would have lost probably five of those games.”
Highland junior Brady Feldman led all scorers with 19 points and accounted for seven of the Bulldogs’ baskets, including three 3-pointers.
“(Feldman) was about all we had on the offensive end, to be honest. We had one starter who didn’t score (Stephen Schniers) and we had another starter who gave us two points (Stephen Torre). When you’ve got 40 percent of your starting crew out there giving you two points, that’s not a good thing.”
The teams combined to miss 12 shots to open the game, a drought that ended when Kruse nailed a 3-pointer that put Highland ahead 5-0. Kruse closed the first quarter with another 3-pointer to put Highland ahead 8-7.
But after the Explorers opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run to take a 14-8 lead, Highland never led again.
The Bulldogs rallied to within 30-28 as Feldman and junior Jack Etter each hit a 3-pointer, but Marquette scored the next seven points, with Ervin’s 3-pointer at the 5:03 mark of the fourth quarter making it 37-28. The gap grew to 48-34 with 1:09 to play.
St. Louis' reported interest in Oakland infielder Jed Lowrie could make sense because Lowrie, a switch hitter, can play not only shortstop but second and third. So the Cardinals would have coverage if they need a pinch hitter for one of the infielders in a tight game.
I have been anticipating for a couple of days -- despite the denials of GM John Mozeliak and skipper Mike Matheny -- that the Cardinals were about to make a move to jolt some life into the major-league roster. But I was a bit surprised Grichuk was the choice because he's in his first year at the Class AAA level. It seems that the team is rushing him a bit.
Grichuk is too valuable of a prospect to toy with. I don't think the Birds would have summoned him to St. Louis if they didn't think he was going to have a chance to make an impact. If they were going for shock value, they could have called up outfielder Joey Butler who is six years older than Grichuk and let the younger player continue to collect four at-bats a day in Memphis.
I wonder if top prospect Oscar Taveras, who plays the same position as Grichuk, was upset at the news that he's being passed over. He's played well in Memphis so far and seems to be finding a groove. So I doubt the Cardinals were trying to send him a message.
Wong was in a slump. But I didn't anticipate that he was on the verge of getting demoted. Especially after the Cardinals stuck with him through a lousy September call up and an equally uninspiring opening road trip.
Comments Wong made about being "comfortable" and not worried about his hitting make me wonder if the Cardinals thought he needed a reality check as much as he needed to work on his swing.
Grichuk, who wore 88 in spring training, is unlikely to get the number 21 jersey he wore in Memphis as it's occupied in St. Louis by Allen Craig. Garcia, interestingly, wore number 5 in Memphis. The Cardinals wouldn't pass out Albert Pujols' old number, would they?