Perhaps it was the slightly cooler weather than last week’s cooker. Maybe it was just another week of seasoning for Iola High’s Fillies tennis team.
Whatever reason, Iola’s tennis team showed plenty of improvement from the squad’s season-opening competition of a week earlier.
“Everybody played better for us today,” Iola head coach Jenn Bycroft said. “It seemed like last week, we were content just to hit the ball back and forth. Today, the girls really worked on ball placement.”
The Fillies’ seven wins on the court were the second most among the four teams in attendance, behind visiting Independence’s perfect 12-0 mark.
Each of the Fillies’ competitors earned at least one win.
Katie Lieurance went 2-1 in No. 2 singles, while both Iola doubles teams of Alexis Hobbs and Bobbi Sinclair and Shelby Reno and Allyson Hobbs also were 2-1.
Megan Smith, the No. 1 singles player, went 1-2 on the day.
Smith defeated Columbus’ Kelci Atkinson, 8-1, before falling to Halie Matthews of Independence, 8-0, and Morgan Stephens of Parsons, 8-1.
“Megan did a better job of her ball placement,” Bycroft said.
Lieurance, meanwhile, defeated Lexi Murdock of Columbus, 8-0, and Lizzie Osborn of Parsons, 8-0. She fell to Calisse Papen of Independence, 8-0.
Alexis Hobbs and Sinclair defeated Laythan Kitch and Kaley Murillo of Columbus, 8-1, before falling to Anna Miller and Alex Keller of Independence, 8-0. The duo rebounded to thump Abbie Ford and Emily Gatewood of Parsons, 8-4.
Reno and Hobbs Allyson Hobbs also started off on the right foot, defeating Abbey Peterson and Abby Zahm of Columbus, 8-1. The duo fell to KasiDee Cox and Katie Capps of Independence, 8-1, but responded with a convincing 8-1 win over Nyeesha Natt and Nakita Gandhi of Parsons.
“Our doubles teams are getting better with communication, which can be difficult when you have a roster of silent types like we do. But they’re getting better, which is what you need to be a stronger team.”
Iola resumes play Thursday at Independence. The junior varsity travels to Parsons to take on Labette County Tuesday.
IHS tennis team shows improvement
