INDEPENDENCE — It is done.
Iola High’s Fillies ended their run in Southeast Kansas League tennis Saturday at the 2011 SEK League tennis tournament.
Iola moves into the Pioneer League, which does not have girls’ or boys’ tennis, next year. Iola’s tennis team will still play SEK opponents next year but not participate in the SEK tournament.
The Fillies finishes seventh in both singles divisions and the No. 2 doubles division Saturday. They took eighth in No. 1 doubles.
“Overall, I was pretty disappointed at the outcome. I know we can play better than this because I’ve seen them play better in the regular season,” said Jennifer Bycroft, Fillies’ tennis coach.
“We made silly errors. We have got to make our opponents work harder at their point by moving them on the court and hitting unpredictable shots. We also need to be a lot stronger at the net, just ending the point.”
Junior Katana Smith went 2-2 on the day. Smith was to have played a “pigtail or play-in” match against Alyssa Goodwin of Columbus. Goodwin was unable to make the tournament so K. Smith won by default and moved into tournament play.
Sarah Ong of Parsons defeated K. Smith 8-0 then Courtney Crain of Fort Scott beat her 8-2. K. Smith came back to claim an 8-3 win over Callie Mcaskill of Coffeyville.
“I was glad to see Katana pull out that win. She definitely has it tougher by being in the No. 1 spot. I’m hoping to do better overall on Friday at regionals,” Bycroft said.
The Fillies head into the Kansas Class 4A regional tennis tournament at Chanute Friday and Saturday. The top six singles players and the top six doubles teams qualify for state tournament, Oct 14-15 at Pratt.
Other teams in the regional along with Iola and Chanute are Labette County, Coffeyville, Columbus, Fort Scott, Independence, Parsons and Pittsburg — all SEK teams — and Ottawa.
Iola junior Abbey St. Clair was 1-2 on the day. She dropped an 8-0 decision to Lakyn Baughman of Labette County and lost 8-1 to Haleigh Whitten of Fort Scott. St. Clair won the seventh-place match 8-7 in a tiebreaker over Aubrie Navarro of Coffeyville.
Senior Hannah Barclay and sophomore Katie Lieurance also went 1-2 in No. 2 doubles for seventh place. They lost 8-0 to Harris and Jump of Parsons and 8-1 to Pittsburg’s Braden and Long. Barclay and Lieurance rang up an 8-1 decision over Neal and Jones of Coffeyville.
Iola’s No. 1 doubles team of junior Shyanne Hendry and sophomore Megan Smith was 0-3. They lost 8-0 to Independence’s Porter and Welch and to Pittsburg’s Curlee and Wilde. They dropped an 8-2 decision to Coffeyville’s Manley and Abudu.
Fillies play in final SEK tennis tourney
