No. 2 singles, doubles take fourth at SEK

PITTSBURG -- Fort Scott High School's tennis team finished in a tie for sixth in the Southeast Kansas League Tournament here Saturday. Pittsburg won the school's first-ever girls' tennis team title with 22 points, outscoring four-time defending champion Independence by 2 points.

"It was disappointing to place where we did in this tournament," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "The scores of those final four teams were within one point of each other and it would have been nice to come away with another win or two in a couple of those matches that could have been wins and move up in the standings, but today it didn't happen. I was proud of the girls' effort. They played hard and represented themselves and our school very well."

Two Tiger entries finished in the top half of their brackets. Both No. 2 singles player Briana Williams and the No. 2 doubles team of Addison Cunningham and Madi Larson finished in fourth place.

Williams (11-7) was the fifth seed in her bracket and began the day with a win over No. 4 Natalie Woolfolk of Labette County in the first round, 8-1. In the second round, Williams fell to top seed Maddie Baden of Pittsburg, 6-0, 6-1.

In consolation, Williams defeated sixth-seeded Madison Giesen of Coffeyvlle, 8-5. In the third-place match, No. 3 seed Abbie Ford of Parsons took a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 win.

"Briana had a pretty solid tournament," Barr said. "She did not play as well against Pittsburg as she had in the past, but came out strong in the third-place match and took control, winning the first set. Her opponent played a very good second set and got Brianna out of her game a little bit and was able to take the second set, forcing the third. On the very last point of the second set, Brianna suffered a leg cramp. During the break between sets, we thought she was good to go, but her opponent just played too well in the third set and we were just never able to get anything going."

Cunningham and Larson (10-8) went in as the No. 6 seed and fell the first round to third-seeded Xzavea Womack and Jaryn Folk of Parsons, 8-4. They then defeated the No. 7-seeded Coffeyville team of Lauren Roberts and Courtney Jackson, 8-1, and the fourth-seeded Chanute tandem of Shayla Bogle and Taylor Thompson, 8-4. In the third-place match, Womack and Folk won a rematch, 6-1, 6-2.

"Addison and Madi had a good tournament at times,"Barr said. "They played some good, solid tennis in their wins, staying in control throughout both matches. But in both matches against, Parsons, they just were not able to play at the intensity level needed to compete with that team"

Emily Adams and Mikayla Norris (7-8) finished sixth in No. 1 doubles. They were seeded sixth and so faced the third-seeded team of Abi Felter and Madison Vogel of Pittsburg in the first round, falling 8-1. In the first round of consolation, they defeated Coffeyville's Sara Vargas/Kayla Maulsby, the No. 7 seed, 8-5. They fell in the consolation semifinals to the No. 4 seed, Chanute's Jaiden Galemore/Caroline Kimberlin, 8-5, and in the fifth-place match to the No. 5 seed, Laney and Lexi Baughman of Labette County, 8-1.

"Emily & Mikayla played hard in this tournament, but were just never really able to get into a sustained rhythm in their play and struggled to control the net and hurt themselves at times with unforced errors," Barr said. "They played hard all the way through, but just couldn't muster that consistent level of play they needed."

Alex King (5-20) was the seventh seed in No. 1 singles. She fell to the No. 2 seed and eventual tournament runner-up, Lyssa Schabel of Independence, 8-0, and to the No. 6 seed, Paige Burleigh of Labette County, 8-5.

"Alex had a tough draw, but I couldn't be prouder of the way she played," Barr said. "She fell behind 0-5 in her match against LCHS, but fought back pulling as close as 5-6 before her opponent was able to squeeze out the final two games and take the match. Alex showed a lot of heart fighting back the way she did in that match and she did everything she could to get the win and make her opponent earn the match."

Coffevyille's Sayka Smith, the defending Class 4A State champion, won her third consecutive No. 1 singles championship, defeated Schabel in the final, 6-2, 6-0. Baden took the No. 2 singles title, beating Indy's M.Campbell, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, in the final.

Beardmore and Rogers of Parsons won the No. 1 singles title, beating Keller and Julian of Independence in the final, 6-4, 6-0. Yantis and Stewart of Pittsburg too the No. 2 double crown over Marquez and King of Independence, 6-2, 7-6.

Next for the Tigers is the Class 4A Regional Tournament, which will be held this weekend at Chanute High School. In addition to SEK rivals Chanute, Coffeyville, Independence, Labette County and Parsons, Columbus, El Dorado, Iola and Winfield will also be present.