TUESDAY — The Iola High School JV tennis team took home third place at the Parsons Invitational Tournament Tuesday.
Also competing at the tournament were Labette County, Parsons, Pittsburg and Fort Scott.
The overall placings in the tournament were Labette County Red taking first place, Labette County Gold taking second place, Iola earning third place, Pittsburg taking fourth place and Parsons and Fort Scott tying for fifth place.
“I am very happy at how our first away meet turned out. The team had a great time and did very well. We finished the night off eating at Braum’s in Parsons,” said Iola head coach Chris Belknap.
Mustang Kyndal Bycroft earned second place for the No. 1 singles section after going 2-1 in her matchups. She defeated Fort Scott’s Bryleigh Hammer, 6-0 and Labette County Gold’s Savanna McElhaney, 6-3.
Bycroft fell in her finale to Labette County Red’s Molly Leonard, 6-0.
Bethany Miller finished in fifth place after going 0-3 in one of her first times out as a freshman. She lost to Pittsburg’s Ana Miss, 6-4, before dropping her second round of sets to Labette County Gold’s Kaitlyn Carson, 6-2.
Miller took down Fort Scott’s Danica Patrick in the finale, 6-2.
“Bycroft played excellent for this being her first year playing tennis and only her second meet to compete in,” said Belknap. In regards to Miller, “she is very coachable and tries her hardest wanting to learn and puts in the work,” Belknap said. “We’ll be working on some strategy at practice. As a freshman, she has lots of time to improve.”
In the doubles matches, Mustangs Genevive Ward and Kennedy Maier took home first place after beating Labette County Red, 6-5 (7-4).
“The Dream Team took first place, having to play a tiebreaker and pulling it off,” said Belknap.
The second Iola doubles duo consisted of Madelyn Ashworth and Marlee Westhoff finishing in fifth place. They dropped their opening matchup against Pittsburg, 6-2, before falling to Labette County Gold, 6-1.
“They played together very well. Both are new to tennis and improving day by day,” Belknap said.
The Mustangs JV tennis team will next play at Independence on Sept. 19 at 3 p.m.
