CHANUTE — With all the new faces around the Iola tennis program, Thursday’s season opening varsity matches at the Chanute Invitational were a key gauge to see where the team would be going into the season and its home event next week.
Coach Jenn Bycroft was very happy with the results her athletes were able to turn in. Both doubles teams finished the day with 2-2 records and showed plenty for Bycroft to work with as the season proceeds.
“All the kids I have are really coachable kids and that really helps a lot,” Bycroft said.
One of the players that Bycroft was very interested in watching perform was Carley Cescon. The junior is going out for tennis for the first time this year and paired with sophomore Jennifer Tidd to form Iola’s No. 2 doubles team.
Cescon and Tidd’s first match-up was against Neodesha and they cruised to an 8-1 win.
“The very first match you ever do in varsity, it is going to be scary,” Tidd said. “People fast-serve to you, but then you realize you can actually hit these and as you feel better, you are going to play better.”
In their next match, they faced off with Jessica Bradbury and Natalie Woolfolk from Labette County, Bradbury and Woolfolk jumped out a big early lead, 4-1, but the Fillies’ pair battled back and got with 6-4 behind some strong play at the net by Cescon.
“She is very strong at the net,” Bycroft said. “She has a lot of natural athletic ability,”
The Labette County duo was able to answer the Iolans’ run with two-straight points and escape with a 8-4 victory.
The resilience that Cescon and Tidd showed in that match impressed their coach and would pay major dividends for them just one match later.
“This is the first time they played together and its a little bit of trial and error,” Bycroft said. “That ended up being a really good match.”
The match of the day was Tidd and Cescon against Abby Zahm and Bethany Robinson of Columbus. Zahm and Robinson were able to take an early lead in the match, but Tidd and Cescon had their confidence puilt up from the match-up with Labette County and responded immediately and this time they closed it out.
“By the time they played that third match, I feel like the jitters had gone away a little bit,” Bycroft said. “I felt like they clicked together really well.”
They topped the Titan duo 8-6 in a marathon of a match.
Tidd and Cescon ended their day with a 2-2 record after losing their final match of the day to Chanute, 8-4.
“This is the first time we have ever played together, so we are getting a lot better and getting to know each other better,” Tidd said. “It was really great playing with her.”
