Tiger tennis opens season at Independence

Fort Scott High senior Stephen Buntain (left), seen here discussing strategy with now-graduated Bryce Hart during a match last year, is the only member of this year's Tiger tennis team with significant varsity experience. He and Hart qualified for the Class 4A State Tournament in doubles last year but the three-year letterman began this season Tuesday at Independence in the No. 1 singles position. (Tribune file photo)

As was the case last season, Fort Scott High School's tennis season begins earlier than any other spring sport. This has come about because the KSHSAA moved the State championship back one week and in order to get all the allowed matches in, teams must begin earlier in the spring.

Thus, we admit that even with that knowledge, we were caught a bit off guard when tennis results were in our inbox Wednesday morning. So this summary will not only serve to bring results of Tuesday's season-opening tournament at Independence but also to look ahead to the rest of the season.

Independence won its own tournament Tuesday with 16 team points. Chanute was second with 10 points, Iola third with seven, the Tigers fourth with four and Pittsburg fifth with three.

Independence is the defending Southeast Kansas League champion. In fact, the Bulldogs have won the last seven championships (six of them outright) and at least a share of 18 of the last 19 titles

"Of course, Independence is the team to beat," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "They graduated a couple of excellent players. But because of the depth they have in their program, someone new always steps up and replaces them with very little drop off.

"The rest of the league appears to be pretty balanced. Several teams have quality players back but no one has the strength in their lineup from top to bottom the way Independence does. The competition in the rest of the league will probably depend on how well teams can take advantage of their stronger players and who improves the most as the season progresses."

The Tigers don't have a lot of varsity experience returning this season as six of their top nine players from last year's team -- including five of the top six -- graduated.

"It looks like we may have a lot of competition for positions this year as we look for players to step up and take those open positions," Barr said. "We have a nice mix of returning players and new players to compete for these spots with the only problem being a lack of experience playing tennis at the varsity level. But I believe we have the potential to be a much better team by the end of the season than we are now."

The bulk of the returning varsity experience belongs to senior Stephen Buntain, a three-year letterwinner. Buntain was part of a State-qualifying doubles team with since-graduated Bryce Hart last season. That pair finished with a 22-8 record.

Tuesday, Buntain played No. 1 singles and went 2-2 to place third. He defeated Trace Redburn of Chanute, 8-1, and Joshua Vannurden of Pittsburg, 8-0. He lost matches against Iola's Kent Toland, one of the league's experienced singles players, 8-2, and Indy's Nick Romans, 8-1.

"He played some excellent tennis much of the day," Barr said of Buntain's effort. "Both losses came to quality opponents. Toland was a State qualifier in singles last season and the Indy player, Romans, beat Toland 8-3 in their match.

"Stephen's match with (Toland) was very close with nearly every game going to deuce several times."

Jimmy Cox, a sophomore who played primarily on the junior varsity last season, played No. 2 singles Tuesday. He defeated Pittsburg's Michael Griffin in a tie-breaker 8-7 (12-10). He lost matches to Jesse Stutt of Chanute, 8-0, Logan Dent of Independence, 8-1, and Mason Posch of Independence, 8-0. Dent was filling in for a vacant spot left by Iola.

"Jimmy gave us a good effort in his first varsity action," Barr said. "He has some adjustments to make moving up from playing JV last season because of the speed of the play at the varsity level. But he is showing a lot of improvement. He did a nice job in his win over Pittsburg in a very close match. He showed a lot of focus and concentration during that match."

Junior Chris Lamb, who earned a varsity letter last season although he played mostly on JV, and freshman Colton Grillott played No. 1 doubles. They were unable to win a match, falling first to Jeremy Herold and Matt Stutt of Chanute, 8-0. Next was an 8-2 loss to Wes Goodrich and Anthony Davis of Independence, who were also taking a spot left open by Iola. An 8-1 loss to Pittsburg's Ean Ivy and Daniel Griffon followed. Their day ended with an 8-0 loss to Indy's Shane Fergus on and Omar Elshabassy.

Sophomores Grant Stucky and Kai Simmons-Mims, both JV players last year, played No. 2 doubles. They picked up an 8-3 win over Iola's Chad Smith and Derek Danford. They lost 8-0 to Chanute's Matt Willis and Caleb Flax, 8-4 to Pittsburg's Clay Southern and Austin York, and 8-1 to Indy's Andrew Carr and Andrew Payne.

"I was a little worried about our doubles play going into (Tuesday) because of the limited time we had worked on doubles," Barr said. "We struggled... At times we played pretty well, but we just had too many errors to be competitive the way we need to. Everyone gave a good effort, though, and the problems we are having in doubles are ones that we should be able to correct in the coming weeks."

Since the tournament was a round-robin, the Tigers can also claim a 1-2-1 record in dual competition. The two fill-in matches for Iola are recorded as forfeits for the Tigers in this regard, giving Fort Scott three wins over the Mustangs. Tiger entrants were 2-2 against Pittsburg for a tie.

This lineup is probably not set. Barr noted that several players missed practice time for different reasons. Those players may see some varsity time later in the year.

Other players out for tennis this season include senior Jeff Johnson, who is new to the program this season; junior Josh Grant, who made a varsity appearance last year; junior Brian Gorman, who is also new to the program; and junior Andrew Benage, who played primarily on the JV.

Younger players include sophomores Dustin Willard, who earned a varsity letter last year and freshmen Gabe Quick, Ben Bristley and Carson Claypool.

The Tigers won't play again until March 27 when they return to Independence for another tournament. Fort Scott will host a home junior varsity tournament on April 14 and a varsity invitational on April 19.