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Fort Scott varsity tennis third at Parsons tourney
PARSONS, Kan. -- Fort Scott High School's varsity tennis season opened its season here Thursday with a third-place finish at the Parsons Invitational. Independence, Kan., took first place followed by Parsons, Fort Scott, Pittsburg and Coffeyville.
"It was a good opening match of the season," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "We played some pretty good tennis for much of the day, not that we don't still have things to work on and improve on, but for the first match, I was pleased with how we played and how we hit the ball."
Since no medals were awarded, Barr shuffled the lineup, using two players at No. 1 singles in two matches each. The one not playing singles against a particular school was paired with Courtney Crain in No. 2 doubles.
No. 2 doubles happened to be the Tigers' best division on the day as the three players combined to go 3-1. Crain and Harrison beat Parsons' Bailey Foster/Kenzie Rea, 8-1 and lost to Indy's Shalei Matthews/Kalie Matthews, 8-3. Crain and Savage swept Coffeyville's Chelsie Burroughs/AnnaKathryn Smith and got by Pittsburg's Emily Baden/Laikyn Long, 8-6.
"Courtney played some good doubles today, playing with both Kenna and Jennifer," Barr said. "She was aggressive at the net and served pretty well. The 2 doubles were a little off against Indy and Pittsburg, but overall had a good showing."
Harrison won both her No. 1 singles matches, sweeping Coffeyville's Aubrie Navarro and beating Pittsburg's Katy Short, 8-4. Savage lost both her singles matches, 8-2 to Parsons' Malina Kipp and 8-0 to Indy's Abbi Groff.
"Jennifer played well in her first-ever varsity action," Barr said. "She played two solid matches in singles picking up a nice win against a good player from Pittsburg in her second match.
"Kenna faced to very strong opponents in her singles matches, but she stroked the ball pretty well. It was good for her to see players hitting with that kind of pace."
Michelle Buntain and Corina Harrison finished 2-2 in No. 1 doubles. They lost to Parsons' Bree Rogers/Kelsey Jump in a tie-breaker, 8-7 (7-5), and Indy's Kelsey Porter/Tyra Welch, 8-5. They also shut out Coffeyville, beating Alexi Nolen and Scarlet Manly, and lost only one game in beating Pittsburg's Jessica Curlee/MiKayla Picher.
"Michelle and Corina ... came out and played an excellent match against Parsons and had a great opportunity to come away with the win, but just couldn't close out the match when they had the opportunity," Barr said. " They fell behind against Indy, made a nice comeback, but it was just a little too late. They played good solid doubles in their final two matches against Coffeyville and Pittsburg."
Kandice Rost played No. 2 singles and was 1-3. Her victory came over Coffeyville's Alexa Maubry, 8-0. She lost to Parsons' Sami Ford and to Independence's Halei Matthews, both by 8-2 scores, and Pittsburg's Britney Wade, 8-5.
"Kandice did a nice job for us in this tournament. She played hard and gave us a good effort in all of her matches. She played very well in the final match against Pittsburg and nearly came away with a hard fought win."
The Tigers will return here Thursday to take part in the Labette County High School Invitational.
JUNIOR VARSITY -- The Fort Scott junior varsity played host to a quadrangular Monday. No team scores were kept.
Krista Hightower was 1-2 in No. 1 singles. She beat Krystal Smith of Iola, 6-0, and lost to KasiDee Cox of Independence, 6-5 (7-4), and Katie Phalen of Pittsburg, 6-4.
Kristian Engle was 0-3 in No. 2 singles. She lost to Indy's Calisse Papen and Iola's Bobbi Sinclair by 6-2 scores and Pittsburg's Emily Curlee, 6-1.
Aubin Duff and Jasmine Davis went 1-2 in No. 1 doubles. They defeated McCollam/Mejia of Independence, 6-5 (7-5), and lost to Iola's Hobbs/Vaughn, 6-3, and Pittsburg's Sullivan/Cicero, 6-2.
Char Hutchison and Emmah Reeves were 1-2 in No. 2 doubles. They beat Seeber/Hobbs of Pittsburg, 6-5 (7-2), and lost to Capps/Bryant of Independence, 6-5 (7-5), and Hicks/McQuarie of Pittsburg, 6-1.
The next JV outing will be Monday at Pittsburg. Play begins at 4 p.m.