The La Salle-Peru boys tennis team had two matches Monday, with six more matches scheduled this week.

With so many opportunities to play available, L-P coach Aaron Guenther decided to switch up the lineup to start the busy week.

“We kind of mixed it up and gave everybody a little variety,” said Guenther, whose Cavaliers beat Streator 7-0 and St. Bede 3-0 in a triangular at the La Salle-Peru Sports Complex. “I think everybody stepped up to the plate and played really well.”

Junior Andrew Bollis, a two-time state qualifier in doubles, played No. 1 singles against Streator and beat Ryan Beck 6-4, 6-4.

“It wasn’t my best day, but I got it figured out, made a couple tweaks and got the win in the end,” Bollis said. “I was struggling with my backhand. I just went for some more slice. I slowed my serve down a little bit to get better accuracy.”

Bollis said he may play singles again this season “depending on personnel,” but he prefers to play doubles.

“It’s all right,” Bollis said about playing singles. “It’s a lot more work. You don’t have somebody to hype you up. I like working at the net better. That’s why I like doubles.”

With Bollis playing singles, brothers Jon and Michael Milota bumped up to No. 1 doubles from No. 2, winning 6-2, 7-6 against the Bulldogs.

“It was pretty rough in then second set, for sure,” Jon Milota said. “Once we pulled it back together, we started going to town again. There were some little mistakes we were making. Once we got those worked out, we did really well.”

The brothers are now 2-0 on the season.

“It’s been going pretty well so far,” Michael Milota said. “It’s pretty fun [playing with my brother]. It’s a good experience and something we’re probably going to remember for a long time.

“I would say we have a positive future.”

Also for L-P against Streator, Adam Kasperski won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 singles, Danny Santoy and Michael Peters won 6-4, 6-5 at No. 2 doubles, Riley O’Brien and Colin King won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3 doubles, Lucas Hardy and Jackson Sellett won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4 doubles, and Devyn Castelli and Zach Newman won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5 doubles.

Against St. Bede, Peters claimed a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles, while in doubles, Santoy and Sellett won 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1, and Newman and Castelli were 6-1, 6-2 winners at No. 2.

“We’re 3-0 in three matches [this season], so that’s always good,” Guenther said. “I think the team really enjoys playing. They enjoy being together. You see on the court that they have gotten so much better. Because of the weather, we’ve been having hour-and-a-half practices. I’ve had multiple kids come up and ask when we’re going to start two-hour practices. They want to be better, so that’s cool to see that hunger and that energy early in the season, because it’s only going to make them better, and hopefully they’re their strongest at the end.”

Streator’s Quinn Baker won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles against St. Bede, while Brad Minick and Izak Gallik won 7-6, 7-5 at No. 1 doubles, and Delroy Jones and Alex Gonzalez won 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 doubles.

“L-P is very good,” Streator coach Rob Beck said. “We had some rough matches against L-P, and a couple that could have gone either way. We got three wins against St. Bede, so that was nice to see. We haven’t had a lot of matches this year. This week we have a lot, which is nice to get these kids some playing time. The more matches they get and they more experience they get, they’ll get better and better every day.”

First-year St. Bede coach Eric Davy said he saw some positives for the Bruins.

“I think they performed better than I thought they would,” Davy said. “It’s only our second [meet]. We don’t have a lot of numbers, so the guys are getting thrown into places in the lineup where they maybe normally wouldn’t be. They’re getting bumped up in competition, and I think they’re responding pretty well.

“I’m seeing more positives than negatives. We’re building, and hopefully getting confidence every time we step on the court.”