Tennis team competes shorthanded

PARSONS -- Fort Scott High's tennis was able to take only three players to the Labette County Tournament here Thursday.

The Tigers saw Jill Query finish in third place in the five-team round-robin tournament. The doubles team of Danielle Miller and Molly Karleskint, playing together for the first time, finished fourth with a record of 1-3.

Head coach Lynn Barr had to put Miller and Karleskint together due to the absence of Megan Anglin due to illness. Anglin may not be able to return to the team until late in the season, if at all.

Query, who went 2-2 on the day, lost to Coffeyville's Candace Chapman, 8-1, in her first match, but was better the rest of the day. She picked up consecutive 8-5 wins over Pittsburg's Janelle Kranker and Chanute's Emily Mason and finished up with an 8-6 win over LC's Alahna Broadway.

"Jill had a good showing today," Barr said. "She is playing smart tennis right now, staying under control and doing a nice job of constructing points. She had matured a lot as a player and, as the season continues, should continue to get better and better.

Miller and Karleskint lost their first two matches -- 8-1 to Samantha Caresio and Lacey Kriebel of Coffeyville and in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (3), to Pittsburg's Sara Vera and Lindsay Collar.

Miller/Karleskint won their third match, 8-5, over Chanute's Katie Litzel and Ericka Kepley. Sierra Foster and Amanda Barnett of host LCHS took the final match, 8-1.

"Danielle and Molly started out a little shaky," Barr said. "But they came back with two fairly solid matches against Pittsburg and Chanute. Their losses were to good teams with a little more experience than they have together."

Fort Scott hosts a junior varsity tournament at 1 p.m. Monday. The varsity will go to Independence for a tournament at 3 on September 11.

Because of the short-handed situation, Fort Scott has withdrawn from a varsity tournament at Independence next Thursday and a JV tourney at Parsons on September 17.