Fort Scott tennis finishes fourth at Thomas Jefferson tourney

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Fort Scott High School's tennis team finished in fourth place at a nine-team tournament hosted by Thomas Jefferson School here Friday. The host school won the tournament followed by Joplin, Springfield Catholic, then and the Tigers.

"This was a good test," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "We had a chance to see some different competition, especially in doubles. This was good for us at the point in the season with league and regionals coming up soon to be pushed like this."

The highest finish was by Corey Chandra and Sam Johnson, who placed third in No. 2 doubles. They had a 2-1 record, beating Larr/Boice of Neosho 8-0 and Shoemaker/Miller of Webb City 8-3. Their loss was to Evans/Peronti of Thomas Jefferson by an 8-3 score.

(First names of the players on other teams were not available as Barr said they were not posted on the brackets.)

Bryce Hart and Stephen Buntain placed fourth in the No. 1 doubles bracket, going 1-2. They shut out Fox/Tucker of Neosho in their first match. Later, Newman/Taylor of Thomas Jefferson posted an 8-0 shutout and Duda/Hampel of Springfield Catholic eliminated the Fort Scott duo, 8-6.

Bret Heiser was 1-2 in No. 1 singles, finishing sixth. He lost to Scott of Springfield Catholic in the first round, 8-4. He beat Monett's Sage 8-6 before losing to Neosho's Dwyer 8-3.

Dustin Willard was 1-1 in No. 2 singles and did not place. He defeated Kowacich of Carthage, 8-5, and then lost to S. Newman of Thomas Jefferson, 8-0.

Chandra/Johnson have a 14-5 record this season together while Hart/Buntain are 10-5. Heiser is 4-9 in singles while Willard is 3-7.

The Tigers hosted their annual tournament Saturday. They will go to Parsons to make-up the Labette County Invitational Tuesday with play beginning at 3 p.m.