Addington sweeps at Spring Hill

SPRING HILL -- Gage Addington went undefeated here Tuesday as he took first place in No. 1 singles at the Spring Hill Invitational.

The Tigers finished third out of the four teams. Alex Combs and D.J. Blethen finished second in No. 1 doubles.

"Overall I was pleased with effort by our players today," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "This was the final time we had to hold out our normal No. 2's to keep them under the limit on days of competition. The first-year players that filled those spots are continuing to show some progress. Some of them do need to realize that the they need to make some changes in how they play before they can really have more success, just because they have always played that way, doesn't mean it's the fundamentally sound way to play."

Addington (7-3 for the season) defeated two of his opponents in tie-breakers. He beat Spring Hill's Chance Hollern, 9-8 (2) in the first round. Then he shut out Baldwin's Auggie Lang in the second round before getting by Lansing's Joe Loronzen 9-8 (7) in the final round.

"Gage had a good tournament," Barr said. "I wouldn't say Gage hit the ball extremely well today, but overall he played pretty well. The windy conditions made it a little more difficult for a player like Gage who likes to take a big swing at the ball because the ball just isn't going to consistently be where you think it should be. Overall, Gage played with a lot more patience today and did a nice job of building points. He came up with some big serves when he needed them and was able to stay mentally tough and pull out two tiebreaker wins against two very solid players."

Combs and Blethen (5-5) lost in their first match to Spring Hill's Jordan Martin/John Sherman, 8-2. They beat Baldwin's Reece Randall/Isaiah DeLaTorre in the second round, 8-3, and Lansing's Andrew Fondness/Sean Crawford, 8-1.

"Alex and DJ struggled with their consistency in the first match against Spring Hill and were really hurt by errors in stroke production, shot placement and court position," Barr said. "In the last two matches, they played better doubles. They still need to keep working on when to play defensively and when to play aggressively, but they are making progress."

Vandaro Chit filled in at No. 2 singles. He lost to Christian Martin of Spring Hill and Thomas Bremser of Lansing by 8-0 counts and to Baldwin's Colton Schell, 8-1.

Jacob Bailey and Kyle Prineaux took the No. 2 doubles position. They lost to Spring Hill's Dustin Wallace/Taylor Burton and Lansing's Ben Johnson/Tristan McMahon by 8-0 scores and to Baldwin's Mason Joliff/Ryan Wesslin, 8-2.

The Tigers played at Pittsburg Thursday afternoon and are scheduled to go to Nevada for a dual, which begins at 4 p.m. today. Details from those matches will be provided when they become available.