Tiger tennis plays at Labette

PARSONS -- Fort Scott High School's tennis team took part in a round-robin tournament hosted by Labette County here Thursday. Head coach Lynn Barr said he saw signs of improvement from the season-opening tournament at Independence but that there was still work needed on being consistent in their play.

Jennifer Harrison was 2-2 in No. 1 singles while Alex King was 1-3 in No. 2's. Char Hutchison and Emmah Reeves were 2-2 on the day in No. 1 doubles while the No. 2 team of Mikayla Norris and Breanna Leslie was 1-3.

Harrison (2-3) started her day with an 8-2 loss to Pittsburg's Katy Short. She beat Chanute's Abby Liudahl, 8-6. She lost to Coffeyville's Sakaya Smith by shutout but came back to shut out Labette County's Emily McCoach.

"Jennifer did not open up playing very well," Barr said. "She was really off her game at the start of the match against Pittsburg and Short is too good of a player to play like that against. Her opponent jumped on her early, built a big lead and Jennifer just wasn't ever able to get anything going in that match. Jennifer came back and started stroking the ball much better in the second match and was able to start playing closer to the level we expect from her, and that she expects from herself."

King's only win was a shutout of Coffeyville's Alexi Nolan. She lost to Pittsburg's Ashlee Beitzinger in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (8-6). She also fell to Labette County's Haley Page, 8-1, and was shut out by Coffeyville's Alexi Nolan.

Hutchison and Reeves began with an 8-5 win over Pittsburg's Abi Felter/Molly Lundberg. Chanute's Jenny Angelton/Chelsea Bearrick won the second match, 8-0. Hutchison and Reeves then shut out Coffeyville's Taylor Neal/Kayla Maulsby, 8-0, before falling to LC's Patricia Stevenson/Paige Smith, 8-3.

"Char & Emmah opened playing some good tennis and had a nice win against Pittsburg," Barr said. "While they still need to play at a more consistent level, their play today was much improved and they showed at times that they are going to be a very good doubles team for us."

Norris and Leslie's only win came over Coffeyville's Victoria Smith/Madison Geisen, 8-3. They lost to Sam Cicero/Aliza Benedict of Pittsburg, 8-3, Chanute's Rachel Ungles/Rebecca Wendt, 8-1, and LC's Marlee Perez/Selena Perez, 8-4.

The varsity team plays at Independence Thursday.