Gorman, Self third in No. 1 doubles

INDEPENDENCE -- Alex Gorman and Micah Self finished in third place in No. 1 doubles here Thursday at the Southeast Kansas League Tennis Tournament.

Gorman and Self have a 16-12 record this season but that comes after overcoming an 0-5 start. The duo started off the day by beating Pittsburg's Dante Menghini/Ben Kargis in the first round, 8-4. They fell to eventual champs Will Schabel/Sam Hilger of Independence, 6-0, 6-2 in the semifinal round.

Gorman and Self then bounced back to beat Labctte County's Devin Philbrook/Nikola Ilievski, 8-4, before winning the third-place bout in a rematch with Menghini and Karkis, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

"They had two good wins against a good Pittsburg team that had beaten them earlier in the season," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "They really showed a lot of toughness coming back to win the third-place match in three sets after Pittsburg took the opening set. These two are still improving and beginning to show signs of the kind of team they should become."

Schabel and Hilger went on to beat Zach Holman and Mitchell Reitz of Coffeyville, 6-0, 6-2 in the finals. Hilger was part of a championship team in the bracket last season with a different partner.

Alex Combs (12-15) finished fourth in No. 1 singles. He defeated Chanute's Trey Katson in the first round, 8-4, then lost in the semifinals to two-time defending champion Zach Schroeder of Independence, 6-0, 6-0. He came back to beat Mink Song of Coffeyville, 8-0, before falling to Parsons' Kyle Hutley in the third-place match, 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 6-2.

"Alex had a good tournament," Barr noted. "He played his game and gave us a really good effort all day long. In the final match, he played very well in the first set, but Hutley was able to change some things and make some adjustments and was just too strong in the end.

"Playing in No. 1 singles, Alex faces some very tough competition and has done a good job for us this year."

Schroeder was upset in the final by Pittsburg's Logan Benham, 6-4, 6-3. Benham is Pittsburg's first No. 1 singles champ since John Johnson won the 2000 championship.

Jacob Bailey (4-16) finished fifth in No. 2 singles. He lost Parsons' Adam Ball in the first round, 8-0, and to Braden Robinson of Chanute, 8-6. In the consolation final, he defeated Noy Synakorn of Labette County, 8-7 (11-9).

"Jacob had a good tournament," Barr noted. "He continues to get better and did a good job of winning the matches we needed him to win in this tournament, including two very close wins."

Ball defeated Robinson for third place, 6-1, 6-1. Devin McAfee of Pittsburg beat Logan Payne of Independence, 6-0, 6-3, in the championship match.

Joe Adams and Elijah Wright came into SEK with a 17-6 record but struggled in No. 2 doubles and finished sixth with a record of 0-3 for the day. They lost to Isaac Stringer/Josh O'Hara of Parsons, 8-2; to Scout Lee/Brayden Frederick of Chanute, 8-6; and to Isaac Payne/Zane Sweetin of Labette County 8-7 (7-3).

"Joe and Elijah struggled in this tournament and were just never able to play the kind of tennis they are capable of playing," Barr said. "They are sophomores and hopefully will learn from this tournament. I was disappointed for them, they have a lot of potential and I believe they are a much better team than they showed this time out."

Lee and Frederick went on to take the third-place match from Stringer and O'Hara, 6-2, 6-2. Jaylynn Lawrie and Kyle Woods of Independence won the championship match over Jared Wilde and Caleb Dial of Pittsburg, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.

Independence, having two bracket champs and two runners-up, won the team titles for the fourth consecutive season and 15th time in the last 16 seasons (45th overall) with a total of 24 points. Pittsburg, with two champs and one runner-up, finished second with 22.

Chanute and Parsons tied for third with 11 points each with Fort Scott in fifth with 10. Coffeyville was sixth with 6 points and Labette County finished last with 4.

"We had hoped for a higher team finish, but finishing only one point out of third shows how balanced the league is after Indy and Pittsburg in the top two spots," Barr noted.

The Tigers return here next Friday and Saturday for the Class 4A Regional Tournament.

Editor's Note: This summary has been corrected. Bailey was originally reported as having won his first match due to a typographical error.