Fort Scott senior Stephen Buntain serves to Chanute's Trace Redburn during the singles semifinals of the Fort Scott Class 4A Regional Tennis Tournament at the high school courts Thursday afternoon. Buntain won this match, 6-4, 6-0, and went on to the finals where Iola's Kent Toland took a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 win. The top four finishers in each bracket advanced to today's Sub-State Tournament at Independence. Buntain and the doubles team of Gabe Quick and Brian Gorman, who finished fourth, advanced to Sub-State. (Tribune photo/Scott Nuzum)

Fort Scott High School's tennis team saw a singles and a doubles entry advance to today's Sub-State Tournament after they placed in the Fort Scott Class 4A Regional Tournament Thursday afternoon.

Senior Stephen Buntain took second place in singles while the team of junior Brian Gorman and freshman Gabe Quick placed fourth in doubles.

Unlike regular-season play, there was one division for singles and doubles instead of two for each. Also, other than first-round matches, matches were best-of-three sets with the winner of each set the first to win six games instead of a single set won by the first to win eight games.

Just as dark clouds began to roll over the high-school court, Iola sophomore Kent Toland began to gain control of his match against Buntain in the singles final.

Buntain won the first game of the final 6-4. But Toland jumped out to a 3-0 lead before winning the second set 6-3. He won the deciding set 6-0.

"Stephen had a strong showing today, playing some very strong tennis," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "He was dominant through his early matches and opened up with a very strong first set against Toland in the finals. Toland came back and played some exceptional tennis in the final two sets.

"It was an excellent match between two very good players, just what you would expect to see in a Regional final."

Both finalists as well as Chanute's Jesse Stutt and Trace Redburn advanced to today's Independence Class 4A Sub-State Tournament, which began at around 9 a.m. In addition to Gorman and Quick, doubles teams from Paola, Ottawa and Chanute also advanced.

The unofficial team order of finish had Chanute on top with Iola and Fort Scott tied for second. Paola was fourth with Ottawa fifth among the five schools entered.

Buntain's day began with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Paola's Mike Banks. Toland, on the opposite side of the bracket, took a 6-2, 6-0 win over Ottawa's Andrew Lanning.

The semifinals saw Buntain beat Chanute's Trace Redburn, 6-3, 6-4, while Toland took out Chanute's Jesse Stutt, 6-0, 6-0.

Colton Grillott was 0-1 on the day for the Tigers as he lost to Stutt, 6-3, 6-1.

"Colton...has had a very good season for us in the No. 2 singles position," Barr said. "He is a tough competitor and really came on and played some good tennis for us this season. This is a young man who has the potential to be a very good tennis player."

Quick/Gorman began their day with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Bri Osbun and Katherine Meinig of Paola. They play on the boys' team because Paola doesn't have girls' tennis.

Quick/Gorman then played Paola's Mitch Mosely and Pehlan Bybee in the semifinals, losing 6-1, 6-4. Mosley and Bybee went on to beat Ottawa's Austin Hesty/Braden Ward, 6-3, 7-5 in the final.

In the third-place match, Quick/Gorman fell to Jeremy Harold and Matt Stutt of Chanute.

"Gabe and Brian had a good draw and opened with an easy win in the first round," Barr said. "They played some good tennis in the semi-final against Paola, especially in the second set when they got out to a quick lead, but Paola settled in and came back to win that set. Against Chanute in the third-place match, we just never got into a good rhythm and weren't able to mount a serious threat."

Jeff Johnson and Dustin Willard were entered as Fort Scott's other doubles team. They lost to Mosley/Bybee in their first match, 6-3, 6-3.

"That is a good team and a respectable score so they have nothing to feel bad about," Barr said. "Hopefully the experience that Dustin gained this season will enable him to see what it will take to compete consistently at the varsity level. He has a lot of potential and should develop into a good player in the next two years.

"Jeff has been a very welcome addition to our program this season. He is a good leader and has really picked up the game and showed remarkable improvement as the season progressed. He has done a great job for us this year and although he was only in the program for one year, he will really be missed next season."

Unless the forecast of thunderstorms comes to pass, there will be a seeding meeting at about 8 a.m. this morning with play expected to begin sometime around 9. The top four finishers there go on to the Class 4A State Tournament at Prairie Village May 9-10.

For information on each match, click on this link, then scroll down a little to the "REGIONAL TENNIS" part of the page.