COFFEYVILLE — Iola High’s Mustang tennis team competed in a rescheduled five-team tennis tournament hosted by Coffeyville’s Field Kindley High School Tuesday.
Mustang No. 2 singles player Zeph Larney went undefeated to capture a first-place medal. Iola’s No. 1 singles player Garrett Catron was 3-1 and either placed first or second.
“We left the meet before the final matches were finished and that was going to determine Garrett’s place,” said Lyle Kern, IHS tennis coach.
The Register’s telephone calls to Coffeyville Wednesday afternoon went without response. Kern told the Register he wouldn’t know until the team went to today’s tennis competition at Chanute.
Larney opened with an 8-2 win over Kyle Schwenker of Pittsburg. He defeated Drew Rising of Coffeyville 8-3 and blanked (8-0) Ben Miller of Columbus.
In No. 1 singles, Catron got past Michael Giffin of Pittsburg in a tiebreaker. He won 8-7 (7-5) then beat Chanute’s Jian Abbuehl 8-4.
Catron lost 8-4 to Coffeyville’s Brad Eastman. He came back to win 8-0 over Justin Garrison of Columbus.
“Garrett and Zeph continue to show improvement,” Kern said. “One member of the team was unable to make the trip so I had to rearrange the lineup.
“Jordan and Chris played No. 1 doubles for us for the first time this year. They hadn’t even practiced together.”
Jordan Strickler and Chris Michaels lost all four matches in the No. 1 doubles division. They lost 8-0 to Pittsburg’s Ryan Hall and Jake Collinge, to Chanute’s Brett Perez and Jefferson Holmes and to Coffeyvlle’s Josh Mitchell and Quintin Hershey. They also dropped an 8-4 decision to Blake Mackeson and Drake Brasart of Columbus.
The Mustangs will be back in Chanute next Thursday for the Southeast Kansas League tennis tournament.
Mustang singles claim medals
