Jacksonville sends three seniors to IHSA state tennis tournament

Jacksonville High School turned one spring of hard work into something rare for a school this size: three seniors on the IHSA State Tennis Tournament stage at once. Colin Knollhoff, Tristin Northrop and Cole Nebel carried the Redbirds into competition at Prospect High School and Hoffman Estates High School, giving Morgan County a clear example of how far a tight-knit program can go when its top players peak together.

For Knollhoff and Northrop, the state trip meant a doubles run against some of the toughest competition in Illinois. The Jacksonville pair opened against Deerfield, the No. 1 seed, and fell 6-0, 6-0 before returning to face Ottawa and dropping that match 6-4, 6-3. Nebel’s singles draw was just as demanding. He lost his first match to St. Thomas More, the No. 3 seed, 6-0, 6-0, then was defeated by Metamora 6-3, 6-0.

The significance in Jacksonville was bigger than the bracket results. Knollhoff and Nebel were making their second state appearance, while Northrop reached state for the first time. That combination gave the program a senior class defined not just by one postseason run, but by repeated qualification at the highest level the IHSA offers.

The path to state also showed why Jacksonville had multiple entries in the draw. At sectionals, Bennett Karr and Colin Knollhoff placed fourth in doubles, while Nebel finished second in singles. Those finishes sent Jacksonville’s boys tennis program into the state tournament with depth in both events, a sign that the team’s success was built on more than one standout lineup.

That broader rise fits the way head coach Doug Moy has talked about the program. Moy has said, “We want Jacksonville to be a team that other schools in the state watch out for.” This senior class helped make that goal feel a little more real, giving younger players in the program a standard to measure against and showing that Jacksonville can send more than one name at a time onto the state stage.