After opening the season on a tear, the Iola High School Tennis Team experienced its first taste of adversity while stepping up to face a few larger schools at the Chanute Invitational.
The Mustangs took fifth overall, while freshman Mosiah Fawson had a strong individual performance by taking third in No. 1 singles.
“Our No. 1 doubles team had great plays, but not enough to get a win. The crowd was pulled to this nail-biter as all the points went to deuce and back,” said Iola coach Chris Belknap.
In No. 1 singles, after opening the tournament with an 8-6 loss to Jaxen DeMot of Fort Scott in pool play, Fawson bounced back with an 8-6 win over Arthur Schmitt of Chanute. Fawson then bested another Chanute player in Kemper Manly, 8-3, to take third.
Trapper Boren was Iola’s No. 2 single and opened the tournament with an 8-2 victory over Remy Daniels of Fort Scott, then fell to Chanute’s Jacob Pierce (8-1). In the third-and-fourth-place match, Boren fell to Nathan Guernsey 8-1.
Iola’s No. 1 doubles team of Ethan Riebel and Brody Thompson took fourth. They opened the tournament with an 8-6 victory over Kaiden Clary and Malachi Larson of Fort Scott, but fell in the second round of pool play, 8-1, to Ethan Burnett and Ayden Cummings of Chanute. Reibel and Thompson took fourth after falling to Eli Atherton and Thor Bogle of Chanute, 8-5.
Iola’s No. 2 doubles team of Simon Mueller and Donnovan Nee took sixth after opening the tournament with an 8-3 loss to Fort Scott’s Dylan Yates and Levi Fairchild, then beat Chanute’s Harrison Vaughan and Caleb before falling in the fifth-and-sixth-place match to Eli Atherton and Thor Bogle of Chanute, 8-7.
