Tennis team enjoys success during week

Fort Scott High School's tennis team juggled its lineup a little bit at the a round-robin tournament at Independence Tuesday and saw Jennifer Harrison come away from the day with a perfect 4-0 record in No. 1 singles.

"Jennifer had a solid day, probably playing some of her best and most consistent tennis of the season," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "She stroked the ball well today, and for the most part played with the patience she needs to be successful."

Two days later, at Chanute on Thursday, the Tigers finished third in another invitational tournament with both doubles teams finishing in second place.

At Independence, Fort Scott and Labette County tied for second in team standings with 9 points each. Independence won the tournament with 13 points. Parsons and Neodesha were also present.

Harrison posted a shutout over Labette County's Emily McCoach in her first match, then beat Neodesha's Emily Depew 8-2 and Indy's Halei Matthews and Parsons' Miquel Wright by identical 8-2 scores.

"Jennifer just needs to build on this performance and continue to improve in the coming weeks," Barr said. "No. 1 singles is loaded this season, and she knows there are a lot of tough matches ahead of her, but I think she is up for the challenge."

Alex King was third in No. 2 singles as she went 2-2. Sje lost her first match versus Labette County's Haley Page, 8-5. She beat Fort Scott's Breanna Leslie, who was filling in as Neodesha didn't have a No. 2 singles entrant, by an 8-1 score. King lost to Sagan Shire of Independence, 8-6, then beat Abbie Ford of Parsons, 8-5.

"Both of her losses were close, especially the match against LC," Barr said. "She played her much closer than the first time they played. Alex isn't flashy, but she grinds and battles. As long as she makes herself hard to beat by being consistent and continues to work on hitting the ball to the open court when she has the opportunity she is going to continue to become a better player."

Char Hutchinson and Emmah Reeves were fourth in No. 1 doubles. They lost to Patricia Stevenson/Paige Smith of Labette County in the first round, 8-4. They defeated Qwynn Marquez/Claire Bindley, an Independence team filling in for an absent Neodesha entry, 8-2. They lost their next two by narrow margins, to Indy's Alex Keller/Calisse Papen, 8-6, and Parsons' Emily Gatewood/Jaryn Folk, 8-7 (7-2).

Due to an injury to Mikayla Robertson and the fact that Independence doesn't give out medals, Barr used different combinations in the No. 2 doubles position. In the first match, Breanna Leslie and Briana Williams lost to Labette County's Marlee and Selena Perez, 8-1. Next, Williams and Emily Adams beat Neodesha's Becca Callaman/Lexie Andres, 8-3. Leslie and Adams faced Independence's Chelsea Cushing/Kaylee Bryant and lost, 8-6. Williams and Adams defeated Parsons' Natalie Benavides/Nyesha Natt, 8-2.

Barr also used different players as the fill-in for Neodesha's absent No. 2 singles entry. Leslie also lost to Shire, 8-1. Adams lost to Ford, 8-4. And Williams lost to Page, 8-1.

Chanute won the team title on Thursday with 10 points followed by Pittsburg with 8 and Fort Scott with 7. This was a six-team tournament with two pools of three entries in each bracket, then a final match between like finishers in each pool.

Hutchison and Reeves (7-12) finished second in No. 1 doubles, taking the pool with an 8-1 win over Coffeyville's Taylor Neal/Alexi Nolan and an 8-0 sweep of Columbus' Laytham Kitch/Kaley Murillo. In the final, they lost to Pittsburg's Aliza Benedict/Alexa Yantis in a tie-breaker, 8-7 (7-5).

"Char and Emmah played with much more intensity today," Barr said. "They moved better and did a better job of forcing things to happen than they did on Tuesday. The loss to Pittsburg was a close one. It just came down to Pittsburg winning a few more key points when they needed them. If Char and Emmah continue to play with that level of intensity they are going to win some key matches for us in the remaining weeks of the season."

Barr settled on Williams and Adams as the No. 2 doubles team and they also won their pool. They beat Coffeyville's Kayla Maulsby/Sarah Vargas, 8-2, and Columbus' Lexi Zook/Madi White, 8-1. Chanute's Angela Alger/Lynzie King won the final, 8-3.

"They played some good tennis at times, and of course at times, their inexperience showed," Barr said. "That was expected and this was a good chance for them to see how they stack up against a better level of competition."

Harrison (11-8) finished third in No. 1 singles. She lost her first pool match to Coffeyville's Sayake Smith, 8-1. But she swept Columbus' Abby Zahn to finish second in the pool and swept Iola's Bobbi Sinclair to take third place.

King (6-10) finished fourth in No. 2 singles. She beat Coffeyville's Madison Giesen, 8-2. She lost to Caroline Kimberlin, a Chanute player filling in an open Columbus position, 8-5, and dropped the third-place match to Pittsburg's Chania Stewart, 8-6.

The Tigers play their home invitational Tuesday with Columbus, Labette County and Independence also scheduled to be in attendance.