Tiger tennis heads to SEK

Fort Scott High School's tennis team dodged a few raindrops but got the make-up of its home varsity tournament completed Monday.

"It was nice to finally get this tournament completed and be able to play at home," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "We were a little worried when we had to take a delay due to lightning and a little light rain, but when that passed it ended up being a beautiful evening."

Pittsburg won the team title with 12 points. Nevada was second with 8 points followed by the Tigers with 3 and Coffeyville with 1.

Individually, the Tigers finished third in three of the divisions, all going 1-2 on the day. D.J. Blethen played No. 2 singles and won his first match over Tyler Strickland of Coffeyville, 8-5. Sam McCoy of Nevada took an 8-1 win and Adrian McAfee of Pittsburg claimed an 8-0 win.

Davis Drake and Gage Addington played No. 1 doubles. They shut out Wyatt Starnes/Ben Conn of Coffeyville in their opening pitch. Colton Short/Andrei Ziabechenko of Nevada took an 8-6 verdict. Jake Creech/Logan Benham of Pittsburg came away with an 8-3 win.

Hayden Barr and Alex Combs played No. 1 doubles, shutting out Coffeyville's Kevin Bailey/Matthew Countryman in their first match. Nevada's Skyler Lanning/Skyler Crews picked up an 8-4 win and Pittsburg's Micah Hashman/Nic Powers posted an 8-0 win,

Jesse Guerreo played No. 2 singles but went 0-3. Chris Frazier of Coffeyville took an 8-1 decision while Nevada's Andrew Arneson and Pittsburg's Hank Cloninger posted shutouts.

"Much like Friday in Chanute, I thought the overall effort was good and everyone played hard," Barr said. "The scores don't always reflect it, but these young men have improved quite a bit since the beginning of the season. The SEK Tournament on Thursday will be a big challenge, but as long as everyone plays hard and gives their best effort that is all I can ask."

The Tigers will be in Parsons today for the Southeast Kansas League Tournament. Play begins at 9 a.m.