CHANUTE — High school tennis seasons are so short. Coaches have very few practices to evaluate players before the opening matches.
Iola High’s Fillies flipped the lid off the 2012 tennis season Thursday. Head coach Jennifer Bycroft switched things up a bit for the varsity players in their first court action.
“I wanted to see how well the players would adapt playing either singles or doubles,” Bycroft said. “We had a really great night of tennis for the first matches of the season.”
Senior Abbey St. Clair and junior Alexis Hobbs adapted well to each other. They played at the No. 1 doubles spot for the Fillies and went 3-1.
“They did an outstanding job working together. They communicated with each other and knew their positions on the court when they needed to be there,” Bycroft said.
St. Clair and Hobbs notched an 8-3 win over Davied and Busch of Neodesha then beat Columbus’ Goodwin and Delmont 8-2. Winning in a tie-break, Hobbs and St. Clair edged Stevenson and McCoach of Labette County 8-7. They lost 8-0 to Chanute’s Thuston and Liudahl.”
Iola No. 2 doubles team of Katie Lieurance and Shelby Reno post and 8-1 victory over Derfelt and Davolt of Columbus. Lieurance and Reno dropped an 8-2 decision to Wertz and Paige of Labette County. They had a pair of 8-3 decisions not go their way, losing to Wittum and Depew of Neodesha and Chanute’s Bearrick and Ungles.
Senior Katana Smith was Iola’s No. 1 singles player. She lost 8-2 to Jackie Arnold of Neodesha, 8-4 to Ashley Simpson of Columbus, 8-0 to Sami Brown of Labette County and 8-1 to Chanute’s Madison Wendt.
Playing in the No. 2 singles spot for Iola was junior Megan Smith. She won by forfeit over Columbus, 8-0. She was defeated 8-2 by Neodesha’s Jackie Newland then had back-to-back 8-0 losses to Labette County’s Paige Smith and Chanute’s Breianna Brooks.
This coming Thursday, the Fillies host their Parsons, Independence and Columbus in Iola’s lone home competition of the season. Play begins at 3 p.m. at the Iola school tennis courts, northeast of IHS.
Fillies’ St. Clair-Hobbs team claims 3 wins
