Fort Scott still testing tennis roster, places well in tournament

Herald-Tribune

INDEPENDENCE, Kan. -- Fort Scott High School's tennis team used several new players in a round-robin tournament at Independence on a cold and very windy Thursday afternoon.

Stephen Buntain and Chris Lamb were the only members of the team who also played here when the Tigers opened their season two weeks ago. Lamb was playing a different position, moving from No. 1 doubles to No. 2 singles.

"We had a different lineup as we are still looking for the right combination of players to give us our strongest possible lineup," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "The competition was strong, as to be expected in this tournament. But even with several players lacking much varsity experience, we competed pretty well at times."

Buntain (5-3 on the season) was 3-1 and finished second in No. 1 singles, earning three of the Tigers' five team points. He defeated Travis Bailey of Arkansas City 8-3 and posted 8-0 shutouts over Bret Cruse of Parsons and David Warren of Labette County. His lone loss was 8-1 to Nick Romans of Independence.

"Stephen had a solid performance," Barr said. "He was in control in all three of his wins from the start. Against Indy, he played a much better match than the first time. Although the score was the same, Stephen won a lot more points and played with more confidence. It appears that there will be some excellent singles players in the SEK this year and Stephen should be one of them."

Lamb was 1-3 but was placed fourth after tie-breakers in No. 2 singles. He defeated Travis Wells of Labette County, 8-5. He lost to Ark City's Daniel Byers, 8-1; Indy's Dan Porter, 8-0; and Parsons' Cody Williamson, 8-2.

"Chris struggled with consistency much of the tournament but showed a lot of determination in (the LCHS) match," Barr said. "He fell behind 3-0 then won six straight games and hung on to win in some absolutely horrific playing conditions."

Josh Grant and Dustin Willard made their season varsity debut in No. 1 doubles and took third place with a 1-3 mark on the day. Their win came over Jason Alexander/Austin Clift of Parsons, 8-5. They lost to David Rippe/Jeremiah Johnson of Ark City, 8-1; Sam Schroeder/Adam Greenhaw of Independence, 8-3; and Bret Eckelberry/Jesse Muller of Labette County, 8-5.

"They are still adjusting to the speed of play and learning what it will take to compete as a varsity doubles team," Barr said. "They showed some signs of progress today (and) played well in their last match against LC's experienced team that has given a lot of teams problems in the last couple of years."

Gabe Quick and Brian Gorman played No. 2 doubles and also took third at 1-3. They won their final match of the day, 8-6, over Labette County's Joe Shallington and Daniel Merritt. Their losses were against Michael Kahm/Jarrod Smith of Ark City, 8-3; Michael Ysusi/Andrew Payne of Independence, 8-1; and Ryder Nush/Alex Smith of Parsons, 8-2.

"Gabe and Brian were pretty much thrown into the fire today," Barr said. "Both are first-year players seeing their first-ever tennis action and they opened up with Ark City and Independence, traditionally two of the better programs in the state. I think they have an idea now what the level of play is like and what it will take to compete at the varsity level. They came out and played a solid match in their final match of the day, again in terrible playing conditions. They have a lot of potential and should keep improving as they get more experience and continue to learn the game."

Independence won the tournament with 15 points followed by Ark City with 10. Fort Scott and Parsons tied for third with five points and Labette County scored three points.

The Tigers will be bust next week. The junior varsity hosts a dual with Chanute at 3 p.m. Monday, a meet recently added to the schedule. The varsity will play three of the following four days: at Spring Hill Tuesday, Pittsburg Thursday and Nevada Friday.