CHANUTE — A week ago Iola High’s Fillies had a rough go of it in tennis action. Thursday, in the cool, cool weather, things went better for the Fillies.
Iola’s No. 1 doubles team of Abbey St. Clair and Alexis Hobbs rolled to three straight wins at Chanute before losing its last match.
St. Clair and Hobbs beat Navarro and Neil of Coffeyville 8-3. The Iola pair battled with Curlee and Baden of Pittsburg into a tiebreaker and won, 8-7 (7-5).
St. Clair and Hobbs defeated Derfelt and Davolt of Columbus 8-1. They dropped an 8-0 decision to Chanute’s Liudahl and Thuston.
“I was excited to see our No. 1 doubles team play well at Chanute,” said Jennifer Bycroft, Fillies’ tennis coach. “Last week was rough and it was nice to see them turn it around this week.”
Shelby Reno and Bobbi Sinclair went 1-3 in No. 2 doubles for Iola. Their win was an 8-3 decision over Delmont and Johnson of Columbus.
Reno and Sinclair lost 8-4 to Coffeyville’s Johnson and Johnson, and lost 8-1 to both Pittsburg’s Long and Phalen and Chanute’s Bearrick and Ungles.
“Shelby and Bobbi are young, a sophomore and freshman, respectively, however they are improving together,” Bycroft said.
“They just need to anticipate the ball a little better and communicate on the court more often.”
In No. 1 singles, Katana Smith went 1-3 for Iola. Katana opened with an 8-2 win over Coffeyville’s Jessica DeYoung.
She lost 8-2 to Katy Short of Pittsburg, 8-4 to Ashley Simpson of Columbus and 8-0 to Madison Wendt of Chanute.
Megan Smith, Iola’s No. 2 singles player, won by default over Coffeyville 8-0. She lost 8-0 to Pittsburg’s Brittany Wilde, 8-4 to Alyssa Goodwin of Columbus and 8-1 to Rebecca Wendt of Chanute.
“Katana really played well and I saw a lot of hustle out of her,” Bycroft said. “Megan did a better job in placing the ball with a lot more pace on it.”
Iola’s junior varsity is at Parsons Monday. The Fillies’ varsity travels to Pittsburg next Thursday.
