Experience, numbers both great for Fort Scott tennis

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Fort Scott High School head tennis coach Lynn Barr has numbers, that's for certain. There are 20 players out for the boys' team this spring and he may have to add junior varsity matches to the schedule in order to give all those players opportunities to show their skills.

But Barr also has six players returning with varsity experience, including both members of a doubles team that finished fourth in the Regional Tournament last season.

"We have numbers, that's for sure," Barr said Thursday afternoon. "James Fox is going to be an assistant coach for us this season and he's doing a good job."

There are four seniors out, including one half of last year's primary doubles team, Brian Gorman. He and Gabe Quick, who is a sophomore this season, combined to go 16-14 and had the fourth-place Regional finish.

Another senior is Josh Grant, who played varsity part time and had four doubles victories. Also out are Chris Lamb, who had a pair of wins in varsity doubles, and Andrew Benage, who played mostly JV.

There are also six juniors -- three veterans and three first-year players. The returnees include Dustin Willard, who won eight doubles matches with a pair of different partners, Kai Simmons-Mims, a part-timer on varsity, and Jimmy Cox, who played mostly JV. Kholton Dwyer, Dillon Peel and Charlie Sercer are out for tennis for the first time.

Quick is one of six sophomores along with Colton Grillott, who was 8-14 in varsity singles play and also had a few doubles matches. Other sophomores include Ben Bristley, Carson Claypool, Cody Harper and Kyle Kelly.

Four freshmen are out: Kyle Altic, Bryce Bailey, Matt Hull and Nate Lemons.

The season begins Tuesday with a tournament at Independence but the lineup isn't settled in. Barr feels he has 10 players capable of filling the six varsity positions (two singles and four doubles players). Those are Gorman, Grant, Lamb, Simmons-Mims, Sercer, Willard, Bristley, Grillott, Harper and Quick.

"I think all of those guys will have some varsity playing time," Barr said. "We have 10 tournaments and a player can only have eight, so they'll all get a chance as we rotate them.

"With these kinds of numbers, it's still early. It may be a week or so to get that figured out."

Practice began a couple of weeks ago, although those who basketball players reported late due to Regional games. Barr says things have been going well.

"We've got a lot of drive and the kids have been working pretty hard," Barr said. "The top group of kids are much improved from last year. And if we can continue to improve, we hope to compete."

Independence, which has won at least a share of the last eight Southeast Kansas League championships (and all but one since 1889 with ties in 1989, 1994 and 2002) is again the favorite to win the league. However, Barr feels the league is wide open after that.

"Iola has one of the better singles players in the league, if not the state, returning," Barr said. "We lost a few players but so did all of the others. It should be pretty competitive."

Fort Scott will play host to four events this season. The first is March 30 for a dual with Nevada (some schedules may have this in Nevada but Barr confirmed it's their turn to come here this season). Next is the junior varsity tournament on April 20. The varsity tournament, which includes Pittsburg, Labette County, Coffeyville and Chanute, will be held April 25. And the Tigers will again host a Class 4A Regional Tournament -- as they did last season -- on March 7.