It isn’t taking long for Iola High’s tennis team to find its groove.
Now, head coach Chris Belknap just needs to instruct his squad on how tiebreakers work.
The Mustangs’ No. 1 doubles team of Patrick Weaver and Landon Carson mistakenly played well beyond what they needed to defeat Independence’s Tristen Cushing and Owen Clapp in Thursday.
In high school tennis, tiebreakers are used when a score is tied at 7-7.
However, the Iola and Independence teams continued to play on after it was 7-7, and then 8-8, without telling anyone of the deadlocked score.
“There was a little confusion there,” Belknap said afterward.
And a little controversy.
Once the coaches realized the teams were playing beyond what they were supposed to, they stopped play with Independence leading 9-8 and three service points away from winning the match.
Rather than continue the set — Iola was serving — the coaches instead directed the players to go back to the 7-7 score in order to begin the tiebreaker.
There, Iola took control quickly, winning five of the first six service points of a 7-2 tiebreak victory in Iola’s first match of the season.
In what typically is an event featuring multiple schools, several backed out because of schedule conflicts and COVID protocols.
That left only visiting Independence and Iola to take the court.
But even better than the score was the quality of play, Belknap said, particularly with practices beginning less than two weeks ago, and both Carson and Weaver otherwise still focused on basketball until this week.
“These two play as a team, like they have been playing together for a good amount of time,” Belknap said. “This team will do really well.”
Thursday’s other highlight was the singles play of Riccardo Barbarossa, who swept past Indy’s Tucker Gregory, 8-0.
“He has a strong serve, and he’s very good at rallying to the ball,” Belknap said. “Riccardo is going to be a strong force playing for Iola.”
