CHANUTE — Everything was new for Iola High’s Fillies as they opened the 2011 varsity tennis season Thursday. There were five teams competing at Chanute High’s meet.
Junior Abbey St. Clair is the only member of the Fillies’ squad with any varsity experience. That was limited last year in doubles action.
St. Clair captured her first varsity match wins playing No. 2 singles for Iola. She pushed past Michaela Davied of Neodesha 8-2.
St. Clair came up with a hard-fought 8-7 win over Alyssa Goodwin of Columbus. St. Clair won the match in a 7-1 tiebreaker.
St. Clair lost 8-0 to Lakyn Baughman of Labette and dropped an 8-2 decision to Breianna Brooks of Chanute.
“Abbey played so well Thursday night. She handled herself very well playing singles for the first time,” said Jennifer Bycroft, Fillies’ tennis coach.
The other victory for Iola came in the No. 1 doubles division. Junior Shyanne Hendry and sophomore Megan Smith notched an 8-0 win over Columbus’s Kristina DaVolt and Zoe Foster.
Iola’s No. 1 doubles team lost 8-0 to Chanute’s Alexis Thuston and Madison Wendt and to Neodesha’s Rebecca Patchett and Tabbitha Patchett. Labette County’s Lora Nance and Elyse Merritt defeated Hendry and M. Smith 8-1.
“This is Shyanne’s first time out for tennis and Megan played junior varsity all last season. They had some good points,” Bycroft said.
“It will just take some work in getting our doubles teams to communicate better with each other on the court. We were excited for their win and Abbey’s wins.”
Junior Katana Smith played her first varsity matches as Iola’s No. 1 singles player Thursday. She lost 8-0 to Katie Anderson of Labette County and to Czarina Ramos of Chanute.
K. Smith dropped an 8-2 decision to Jackie Arnold of Neodesha. Smith battled but lost 8-4 to Ashley Simpson of Columbus.
“Katana had some very long points during the day. She did a good job of moving her opponent and hustling on the court,” Bycroft said. “I’ve seen improvement in the play of both Katana and Abbey over last year.”
Iola’s No. 2 had the same combination on the court as the No. 1 doubles team. Sophomore Katie Lieurance played junior varsity all last year for the Fillies and sophomore Sabrina Graham is new to tennis.
Graham and Lieurance played several matches tough. They lost 8-7 (7-0) to Columbus’ Lexee Zook and Hannah Carpino in the final match of the day.
They lost 8-2 to Labette County’s Sami Brown and Paige Smith and to Chanute’s Haley Akridge and Beth Ungles. Neodesha’s Jackie Newland and Alyssa Schule defeated Graham and Lieurance 8-0.
“We have some fundamentals to work on. I thought they were going to pull out that last match against Columbus,” Bycroft said.
Iola is home for the only time this season Thursday. Parsons, Independence and Columbus come to town. Play begins at 3 p.m. on the IHS tennis courts, northeast of the high school.
Fillies net wins in opener
