Lebanon High School's Chris Meek qualified for the 5A state tennis championships after a fourth-place finish at the Mid-Willamette Conference tournament last week.

Meek, who was seeded third, eliminated his first opponent, South Albany's Cody Raymond, 6-1, 6-2.

Though Meek drew good matches, not facing anyone seeded higher than sixth until the semifinals, LHS coach Tim Fox noted that no match was easy.

"Everything's a challenge, because when kids go to district they rise to the occasion," he said. "You've got to play every match at district like it's the finals match."

Meek won two more matches to earn a contest with second-seeded Kevin Wong of Crescent Valley in the semifinals on Friday.

By making the semis, Meek secured a berth at the state tournament. But he still had to compete. He lost to Wong, putting Meek in the third-place match.

Meek then took on Bond Minard of South Albany in the consolation finals. Fox said Meek was "too nice" in the match, settling for defensive mode.

"If he goes in that defensive posture, a lot of time he gets outstroked," Fox said.

Meek won the first set, but lost the second and couldn't overcome Minard's newfound momentum.

Other Lebanon singles made good showings too. Eighth-seeded Tysen Weber won his first singles match of the tourney over Aaron Koob in two sets.

"Tysen pretty much got out on top right out of the gate," Fox said. Koob proved a worthy opponent, but once Weber figured out how to take advantage of Koob's net play, he didn't look back.

"Tysen was just nailing those back corners," Fox said. "Once we figured that out it was pretty easy sailing."

Weber lost his second match of the tourney to Vishesh Khanna of Corvallis.

Dan Franzwa advanced to the second round of the consolation bracket, as did Lebanon's final singles player, Logan Burt.

In doubles, the team of Steve Patterson and Taylor Bates made the semifinals of the consolation bracket.

Other LHS doubles were: Nick Zotta/Luc Chambers, Thad Sansom/Joe Robinson and Michael Mahoney/Brad Weber.

"Everybody did quite well," Fox said. "I was pretty impressed. I think that we're making ground and making progress."

He's encouraged by the improvement the program has made during his tenure. Meek was a sophomore when Fox took the job, and Lebanon has gone from winless to a district competitor in that time. LHS finished fifth in the conference this season.

Fox said his season goal was to make his athletes into better tennis players. He feels that was accomplished, and is looking forward to applying a different strategy next year.

"We should see some big differences," he said.

Meek plays at the 5A state tournament on May 15 in Tualatin. His first match is against Nick Cross of Ashland.