Junior varsity tennis opens up Iola HS fall sports season

On Monday, Iola girls tennis got the first action out of any Mustang or Fillie team as the junior varsity squad made the trip east to Fort Scott.
Iola took on the junior varsity squads from Fort Scott, Pittsburg and Independence. The Fillies took a full squad of two singles players and two doubles teams to the tournament.
Number one singles player Allie Utley led the way for Iola going 2-1 which was the best record of the day for the Fillies.  Utley breezed through her first two matches winning 6-0 in both before falling in a battle for first place to Amanda Trout of Independence giving Utley a 2nd place medal.
“Allie did a great job of going 2-1 today,” head coach Jenn Bycroft said. “She mixed her shots up well, moved her opponent, and even attempted some volleys at the net.  By the time her third match rolled around, she was starting to run out of gas.  I just told her to be able to push through her fatigue, she had to focus on one point at a time.”
Number two singles player Gabby Richards went 1-2 with her one win coming by default as Fort Scott did not have a number two singles player. Even though Richards lost both of the matches she competed in, Bycroft was impressed with how the first year player handled herself in her first tournament.
“I was impressed by how quickly she covered the court,” Bycroft said. “The main thing she struggled with today was her footwork, especially when her opponents hit the ball deep, but she also had some nice returns. She had some long points.”
The number one doubles team consisting of Kassy Shelby and Carlie Payne went 1-2 in their first tournament together as a doubles team. Shelby is in her first year of tennis as a junior and Payne is in her second year on the team as a sophomore.
“They started to connect better on the court by their 2nd match and had a really good win there,” Bycroft said. “I think they were both getting a little tired by their 3rd match, but at one point were down 1-5 and came back and won those next two games to finish at 3-6. They both had some nice serves and good ball placement.”
Finally the number two doubles team of Annika Hobbs and Sidney Shelby went 0-3 in the tournament. Not only was Monday the first tournament that Hobbs and Shelby played together as a team, it was also their first tennis tournament, period. With that inexperience, Bycroft was happy with the bright spots they showed throughout the day.
“The first match they were still trying to figure out where each other was on the court, but by the 2nd and 3rd matches, they were communicating better and both had some really nice shots,” Bycroft said. “We have to do a little better job of working on covering the backcourt, but overall I was pleased.”
The varsity tennis team will open up their season on Thursday versus Chanute while the junior varsity will be back in action on September 5th at Parsons.