PITTSBURG — The Fillies varsity tennis team had its final tune-up Tuesday in preparation for next weekend’s regional tournament. The Fillies faced Coffeyville, Pittsburg and Chanute in Pittsburg.
Both Fillies’ doubles teams were able to pick up wins over their Coffeyville foes to gain some confidence going into the biggest part of their season.
“We needed the opportunity to get some more wins going into tournament time,” Iola coach Jenn Bycroft said.
The Iola top doubles pair of Erin Klubek and Macayla Bycroft lost their first two matches to teams from Chanute and Pittsburg by 8-1 each.
Bycroft and Klubek were able to respond with an 8-1 victory over Coffeyville.
Carley Cescon and Allie Utley played together as Iola’s No. 2 team and also finished the day with a 1-2 record.
They lost to Chanute 8-2 to begin the tournament and also fell to Pittsburg 8-1.
Cescon and Utley were able to end the day on a high note by dominating Coffeyville 8-0.
Jennifer Tidd was the No. 1 singles player for Iola and finished with a 0-3 record.
She lost 8-1 to Jaiden Galemore of Chanute, 8-0 to Nicole Konopelko of Pittsburg and 8-3 to Pittsburg’s Tia King.
JUNIOR VARSITY
The Iola junior varsity team finished its season on Monday with a tournament in Chanute.
No. 1 singles player Allie Utley was the top performer of the day for Iola.
She lost her first match to Jenna Eycheson of Independence and was able to battle back through the consolation bracket with a tiebreaker win over Kendall Madison of Fort Scott and a 6-2 win over Chanute’s Amee Fritch to take fifth.
No. 2 singles player Sloan Geddry finished the day 0-2 and the No. 1 doubles team of Carlie Payne and Cassidy Lowell was 0-3.
“I was able to mix things up and have kids play both singles and doubles (this season),” coach Bycroft said. “This gives them experience at both. I saw improvements in all of (our players) and hope for even better things next year.”
