Tennis team has tough start

Friday, August 24, 2007

PARSONS -- Fort Scott High School's tennis season got off to a tough start here Thursday as the three Tiger entries won only one of 12 matches in a season-opening round-robin tournament here.

"It was a typical first match, but we did need this to see what we need to work on," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "It's kind of hard sometimes to know for sure until you see live competition. I was pleased with the effort everyone gave today. We did have some trouble in some matches, starting out pretty strong and then fading in the later stages of the match. This is probably a result of us being a little cautious with the conditioning work in the excessive heat, but probably won't be a problem as the season progresses."

Jill Query was 1-3 in No. 1 singles as she picked up Fort Scott's only win. That came over Erin Farmer of Pittsburg by an 8-6 score. In her other matches, Adrienne Kutz of Parsons was an 8-4 winner, Candace Chapman of Coffeyville won 8-0 and Katie Porter of Independence also took an 8-0 decision.

Danielle Miller played No. 2 singles. She lost to Katie Martino of Parsons, 8-2, Sarah Graham of Coffeyville, 8-5, Brandi Eades of Independence, 8-0, and Janelle Kranker of Pittsburg, 8-1.

Megan Anglin and Molly Karleskint played No. 1 doubles. They lost to Morgan Taylor and Kim Reeves of Parsons, 8-1, in their first match. Next, Coffeyville's Samantha Caresio and Lacey Kriebel took an 8-5 decision. Then Jayme Wright and Taylor Jurski of Independence won by an 8-0 count. Finally, Sara Vera and Lindsay Collar of Pittsburg took an 8-3 win.

The No. 2 doubles position was left unfilled by Barr as he wants to give his newer players experience on the junior varsity before fielding a complete varsity team. The JV Tigers get their first chance to play Monday in a home round-robin that will be held at 3 p.m. on the courts at the high school and at the city pool.

Independence, the defending Class 4A champion, was the tournament champ with 16 points. Parsons followed with 11 points while Coffeyville had six, Pittsburg four and Fort Scott one.

The Tiger varsity resumes play Thursday at the Labette county Tournament, which will also be held here. Play begins at 3 p.m.