League tennis suspended; Regional Thursday

Thursday, May 7, 2009

INDEPENDENCE -- The Southeast Kansas League Tennis Tournament has been put on hold due to rains that happened on each of the days it had been played in the last week.

The tournament began last Thursday before it was suspended the first time. An attempt was made to finish it on Tuesday, but rain came along again.

Class 4A Regional play is scheduled to begin today. Fort Scott High School is host to a five-team Regional that will begin at around 3 p.m. this afternoon. The top entries at Regionals go on to Sub-State play, which is scheduled for Friday at Independence.

It's hoped that the league tournament can be completed Monday, between Sub-State and State. Otherwise, this would be the first season since 1966 that the SEK does not have a tennis champion.

As of today, No. 2 singles player Charlie Sercer is in line for the highest finish among Tiger players as he has earned a berth into the third-place match. This is just the second time this season that Sercer has played singles.

Sercer (3-1) won a first-round match over Alex Smith of Parsons, 8-2. In the winner's semifinals, Mason Posch of Independence took an 8-6 win over Sercer.

Sercer advanced to the third-place match by beating Nick Thomas of Columbus, 8-4. He awaits Josh Vannurden of Pittsburg in the upcoming third-place match.

Brian Gorman and Colton Grillot (9-10) also have a shot at third place, although they are still two matches away from that chance. They are in the consolation semifinals in No. 1 doubles.

The Tiger duo won their first-round match against Boone Ott/Zach Mitchell of Coffeyville, 8-4. They lost to Jason Alexander/Ryder Nash of Parsons, 8-1, in the semifinals.

Gorman/Grillot will face David Warren and Joe Garrett of Labette County in the consolation semifinal. Winning that will put the Fort Scott team into the third-place match. A loss means they will play for fifth place.

Gabe Quick and Dustin Willard (11-5) are 1-2 in No. 2 doubles and will be playing for fifth place when play resumes. They were defeated in the first round by Josh Reed/Michael Giffin of Pittsburg, 8-6. In first round of consolation, they shut out Brent Heady/Joe Shallington of Labette County, 8-0. They lost to Alex Jack/John Paul Harvey of Parsons, 8-1, for the chance to play for third.

Josh Grant (6-13) will be playing for seventh place in No. 1 singles. He lost his first match to Iola's Kent Toland, one of the state's best players, 8-0. In consolation, Parker Robertson of Parsons took an 8-4 win over Grant.

The championship match-ups in every bracket are known and each of the four feature an entry from Independence, which just about assures that the Bulldogs will win their ninth consecutive SEK title when all is said and done. Indy has won at least a share of every SEK championship but one since 1988. Bulldog individuals have won the last three No. 1 singles titles and four of the last five No. 1 doubles crowns.