Varsity, JV tennis open seasons

Fort Scott High School's varsity and junior varsity tennis teams opened their seasons this week. The varsity went to Independence on Tuesday while the JV played at Pittsburg on Thursday.

Tuesday: Varsity at Independence.

The Tigers had experience players in singles but had freshmen playing in three of the four doubles slots. Fort Scott finished fourth out of five schools.

"It was a typical season opener, lots of errors, but it did give us a chance to see where we are and reinforce with the players what we need to improve on," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said.

Raifen Cruse had the best day, going 2-2 in No. 2 singles. He posed a first-round 8-4 win over Conner Farrell of Iola. Cartlan Cox of Independence took the next match, 8-5. Adrian McAfee posted a straight-set win in the third round. Cruse defeated Chanute's Payton Cranor in his final match.

Alex Combs was 1-3 in No. 1 singles. He had a pair of 8-4 losses to Iola's Colby Works and Indy's Dimitri McCaffery and a straight-set defeat at the hands of Pittsburg's Logan Benham. He picked up an 8-4 win over Chanute's Zane Wyrick.

"Alex and Raifen played well at times, but still need to play with more consistency and serve better," Barr said.

Micah Self and Jacob Bailey had a 1-3 record in No. 2 doubles. Rhett Allen/Glenn Thompson of Iola took an 8-5 win. Don Grice and Will Schabel of Independence took a straight-sets win. Zac Dee and Dante Menghini of Pittsburg claimed an 8-1 victory. Self and Bailey beat Chanute's Brent See/Trey Kasten, 8-4.

Elijah Wright and Joe Adams were 0-4 at No. 1 singles. Mason Key/Isiah Fasson of Iola, Pat Hardy/Lane Schicke of Independence, and Ethan Bush/Fisher Lund of Independence all won by 8-1 scores. Micah Hashman/Nick Powers of Pittsburg won in straight sets.

"In doubles, three of the four were freshman seeing their first-ever tennis action and that lack of experience showed," Barr said. "They all played hard and gave a good effort, they will just need to keep working and keep learning and improving as the season goes."

The next varsity outing is at 3 p.m. Tuesday when the Tigers host their annual varsity tournament.

Thursday: JV at Pittsburg.

Each of Fort Scott's entries in this tournament finished 1-2 on the day. Fort Scott did not have a No. 2 singles player due to a doctor's appointment.

Self played No. 1 singles. He defeated Trey Huston of Chanute, 6-3, but lost to Jack Warring of Pittsburg White and Caleb Dial of Pittsburg Purple by scores of 6-1.

Bailey and Jacob Reichard played No. 1 doubles. They lost to Chanute's Braden Robinson/Kolby Ussery in a tie-breaker, 6-5 (7-3). They beat Pittsburg White's Bert Vanderpool/Joe Holder, 6-2, and lost to Pitt Purple's Will Jewett/Jared Wilde, 6-2.

Jesse Garcia and Austin Bolinger were entered in No. 2 doubles. They lost to Syr Oalmer/Dillon Phillips of Chanute, 6-2, and Ivan Walker/Jamean Delp of Pittsburg Purple, 6-3. They won by default over Pittsburg White.

The next scheduled matches for the junior varsity will be at Nevada on April 10.