Fort Scott No. 1 doubles player Jeff Johnson (right) returns a shot from Labette County's team while Dustin Willard covers during a match at the Fort Scott Invitational Saturday morning. LCHS' team of David Warren and Joe Garrett won this match but the Tigers won their home tournament on tie-breakers over Pittsburg and Coffeyville. (Tribune photo/Scott Nuzum) [Click to enlarge]

Fort Scott High School's tennis team won its home tournament Saturday, winning a tie-breaker with league rivals Pittsburg and Coffeyville.

The Tigers, Pittsburg and Coffeyville each had nine points in the final tally of the five-team affair. Each school also had nine match wins from its entrants, leaving total games won as the tie-breaker. Fort Scott won 101 games while the other two won 98.

The remaining tie between Pittsburg and Coffeyville was broken on the basis of fewest games lost. Pittsburg lost 83 games, Coffeyville 90.

The five teams finished within three points of each other as Nevada claimed fourth with seven points. Labette County was fifth with six points.

"It was a pretty good day of tennis," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "This is one of the closest tournaments we have been involved in."

Friday, the Tigers competed in a tournament hosted by Thomas Jefferson in Joplin. As the only Kansas school there, Fort Scott finished in seventh place with three points in a bracket format, rather than the usual two singles and two doubles matches. T.J. won the tournament with 23 1/2 points followed by Webb City with 15 and Joplin with 11. Monett had five points and Springfield Catholic and Neosho had 4 1/2 each. Carthage and Nevada each failed to score points.

Gabe Quick and Brian Gorman went 2-1 Friday and finished in fourth place in No. 2 doubles. They defeated Claypool and Andrews-Wise of Nevada in a tie-breaker, 8-7 (11-9). They also defeated Dilworth/Webber of Webb City, 8-1, before falling to Mahr/Clark of Neosho, 8-1.

Stephen Buntain was 1-2 in No. 1 singles, finishing sixth. He lost to Scott of Springfield Catholic, 8-5, in the first round. He defeated Taylor Chapman of Nevada, 8-1, in the next match but was eliminated when Medlin of Monett took an 8-4 win.

Dustin Willard was 0-2 at No. 2 singles. He fell to Brandy of T.J., 8-1, and Dahlberg of Springfield Catholic, 8-2.

Josh Grant and Jeff Johnson were 0-2 in No. 1 doubles. They lost to Lashley/Beckham of Carthage, 9-7, and Boice/Carr of Neosho, 8-3.

"It was a return to less than ideal playing conditions and our play was also not as good as earlier in the week," Barr said of Friday's play. "The competition did have a lot to do with this, as there were some very good teams and players there today. Seeing this kind of competition was just the test we needed as we approach the SEK Tournament next week."

Saturday, the Tigers were led by Buntain's undefeated day in No. 1 singles and the 3-1 performance of Quick and Gorman in No. 2 doubles.

Buntain (20-6 on the season) posted three shutouts: Pittsburg's Miles Crowley, Labette County's Denton Braden and Nevada's Chapman. He also had an 8-1 win over Coffeyville's Taylor Eastman.

"Stephen again had a very strong showing," Barr said. "He was dominant all day, hit the ball cleanly and played excellent tennis. His game is really starting to peak now, which is what we want going into these season ending tournaments. He showed both sides of his game today, he is very capable of attacking and taking control of the point, but also is very capable of defending and just grinding out points when the need arises. This versatility will be very important to him the rest of the season."

Quick and Gorman (12-10) lost their first match of the round-robin to Jon Hamilton and Josh Vannurden of Pittsburg, 8-6. They beat Joe Shallington and Daniel Merritt of LCHS, 8-4; Boone Ott and Jon Beck of Coffeyville, 8-3; and Tenen Masters and Colby Morehouse, 8-1.

"Gabe and Brian came back and played three solid matches." Barr said. "They really are beginning to look like they understand what they need to do on the court and are beginning to execute and play the aggressive doubles we need them to play. These two are both competitive young men who we hope will really step up this week at the SEK Tournament."

Colton Grillott (6-11) was 1-3 in No. 2 singles, taking fourth place. He beat LC's Dale Check, 8-2, but lost to Pittsburg's Clay Southern, 8-5, Coffeyville's Zach Mitchell, 8-6, and Nevada's Dominic Habjan, 8-1.

"Colton had a good tournament," Barr said. "He opened with a loss to Pittsburg, but it seems to always be close when these two play. Colton had won the last two meetings going into this match, but Southern played a very solid match, and Colton just couldn't find his rhythm in that first match. He came back and played some good solid tennis the rest of the day, even in his losses."

Dustin Willard and Jeff Johnson (3-5) were 1-3 in No. 1 doubles. They beat Nevada's Ethan Holmes/Jordan McCall, 8-1. They lost to Pittsburg's Ian Ivy/Daniel Griffin, 8-4; Coffeyville's Austin Thompson/Max Manley, 8-1; and Labette County's David Warren/Joe Garrett, 8-6.

"Dustin and Jeff teamed up again today and overall played some good solid tennis," Barr said. "The Coffeyville match was the only one that they just never seemed to be able to get anything going in. During the other matches, they played some good tennis at times and in the losses, won a lot of points and it was actually closer than the score might have indicated."

The Tigers will had for Parsons early Thursday morning for the Southeast Kansas League Tournament. After seeding the players, play is expected to begin around 9 a.m. This will be the final tourney of the regular season before Fort Scott hosts a Class 4A Regional Tournament on May 1.