Tiger tennis makes up Indy tourney

INDEPENDENCE -- Fort Scott High School's tennis team traveled here Tuesday to make up a rained-out tournament originally scheduled for Sept. 11.

Host Independence -- the defending league and State champion -- won the tourney with 15 points followed by Pittsburg with 11 and Chanute and Iola tied with seven each. Fort Scott did not score any points.

Due to some illness, head coach Lynn Barr could only bring five players to the tournament.

"Now that the JV portion of the season is over we will be moving some players up and filling the varsity spots and giving everyone some more chances to play," he said.

Taylor Bailey and Kalia Dancy played as a doubles team for the first time this season. They were 0-4 in the No. 1 division. They lost to Melissa Churning/Jenna Lawrence of Chanute, 8-1, Erika Taylor/Preeya Patel of Iola, 8-5, Sammy Highfield/Ashton Borne of Pittsburg, 8-4, and Talor Smith/Morgan Baxter of Independence, 8-0. Bailey and Dancy have played varsity matches this season but with different partners.

"Taylor and Kalia ... were in the matches against Iola and Pittsburg and had the opportunity to get the win, but again, errors continued to haunt us," Barr said.

Sammi Carr and Ashley Allen were also paired up for the first time as the No. 2 doubles team. They lost to Maria Baker/Michelle Kretzmeier of Iola, 8-1, and to Czarina Ramos/Carlyn Ward of Chanute, Chapril Stewart/Lindsay Collar of Pittsburg and Lexy Mangan/MaryLynn Craig of Independence, all 8-0. Carr had played her first varsity matches last week but this was the first time out for Allen.

"The important thing for these two freshmen is to learn from these matches," Barr said.

Heather Hobbs played her first varsity singles matches and was 0-4 in No. 2's. She lost to Eunae Abbuehl of Chanute, 8-2, and Amanda Carr of Iola, Sara Verga of Pittsburg and Lexi Dent of Independence, all by 8-0. She, too, was playing her first varsity match.

"Heather did a nice job in her first varsity action," Barr said. "She was winning points in most of her matches, but just couldn't string together enough to win more games."

No. 1 singles was open.

The Tigers will be in Pittsburg this afternoon for a tournament that will begin at 3 p.m.

"Overall, we just have to keep working to improve and learn from these matches and recognize the things we have to do to be successful and do those things much more and recognize the things that are hurting us and work to do those things much less," Barr said. "The physical effort is there, but the execution must improve."

NOTE -- The match with Nevada, scheduled for Tuesday, will be held in Fort Scott instead of Nevada. This gives the varsity two home appearances instead of just one. The other home date is Oct. 2 for a tournament with Columbus, Labette County and Independence....