CHANUTE — The Iola High School tennis team continued its tradition of taking its annual Chanute Park caterpillar picture on Thursday evening.
The Mustangs competed in the Chanute pool play tournament and finished fourth overall as a team.
Chanute took first place in the meet with Fort Scott coming in second and Pittsburg third. While Iola took home fourth, Coffeyville placed fifth and Columbus sixth to round out the field.
Keira Fawson and Rebekah Coltrane were Iola’s two singles competitors. Genevive Ward and Kennedy Maier competed in doubles matches as did Molly Riebel and Melanie Palmer.
“It was a great night of tennis,” said Iola head coach Chris Belknap.
Fawson earned first place in her singles rounds going undefeated at 3-0 and even stacked up against a family friend in the championship match. Her first matchup was against Pittsburg’s Indiana Grotheer in which Fawson took the 8-6 win.
The junior’s second matchup was with Coffeyville’s Presley Banzet in which she took the 8-0 shutout. Fawson defeated Chanute’s Ella Guernsey in an 8-2 final.
Coltrane got third place in the singles section going 2-1 overall. The Mustang went down three out of four games in her opening match against Pittsburg. Coltrane stormed back for a tiebreaker which she ultimately lost, 8-7.
She didn’t look back however as she won her second matchup over Coffeyville’s Halle Hays, 8-0, before winning her third match over Columbus’ Brooklyn Lima, 8-3.
Ward and Maier’s doubles combination went 1-2 overall, knocking off Columbus for their lone victory, 8-4.
The first matchup pitted Ward and Maier up against Pittsburg’s Savannah Grotheer and Laikyn LeFever. The Mustangs took the 8-1 loss. Next up, the duo fell to Coffeyville’s Emma Thompson and Lindsey Hayden, 8-3.
Riebel and Palmer went 0-3 in Chanute but were close in all the matches they played in.
“Their improvements were very obvious,” said Belknap.
The first matchup for Riebel and Palmer placed them against Pittsburg’s Jessie Lawson and Roary Hunziker in which they stumbled, 8-0.
Next up the pair were defeated by Coffeyville’s Evelyn Crafton and Sarah Turner, 8-6, before falling in the last match to Columbus’ Chloe Ash and Georgia Messer, 8-2.
The Mustangs will now head to Pittsburg for a meet on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 3 p.m.
