INDEPENDENCE — The Iola High tennis team had some success with a few new faces while competing at the Independence Invitational Thursday night.
Despite multiple players filling different roles due to a variety of reasons, the Mustangs picked up a few wins but their main focus is developing and peaking just in time for the postseason.
“Overall, we did pretty well. Everybody came out and played well,” Iola coach Bellknap said.
One constant for Iola is returning No. 1 singles player Bethany Miller. While participating in Thursday’s round-robin tournament, Miller opened the day with an 8-5 victory over Kate Williams of Fort Scott. She took fourth place after falling to Ella Guernsey of Chanute in straight sets 8-0, Brooklyn Mattix of Independence in straight sets 8-1 and Makayla DeLuna of Pittsburg 8-3.
“I felt like I was in most of the games,” Miller said. “It wasn’t just a blowout. OK, there was one that was a blowout, but other than that I was trying and I was right there with them.”
In No. 2 singles, with Abby Jerome out with an illness, freshman Jayna Ivy filled in despite taking up tennis only days before and learning the rules during a JV match earlier this week. Although stepping away without a win Monday, Belknap believes Ivy has a high ceiling in terms of her potential.
“She came to practice. We did pictures for about 30 minutes and I hit with her,” said Belknap, who added Ivy’s first game was at Wednesday’s JV tournament.
“She got into a tiebreak, won the tiebreak, then played in a doubles match and won her doubles match,” said Sellman.
Marlee Westhoff, Iola High School senior No. 1 doubles player, returns a serve Thursday at the Independence Invitational.
In doubles action, No. 1 doubles team seniors Marleee Westhoff and Madeleine Ashworth also came away without a win, but they did give a few teams some troubles.
The duo fell in their opener to Abby Gorman and Bryleigh Hymer of Fort Scott, 8-0, then took a set from Jacqueline Smoot and Leah Burnett of Chanute before falling 8-1.
Westhoff and Ashworth finished the tournament with a pair of losses in straight sets to Sadie York and Allie Denney of Independence, then Emily Schriver and Addie Broxterman of Pittsburg.
“We’ve been playing together since freshman year, so we do a pretty good job of being in each other’s head in a good way,” said Madelyn Ashworth. “We’re pretty good at understanding each other.
“Starting freshman year, and knowing nothing about tennis, we’ve definitely come a long way.”
Another new face to the tennis team made her debut with the No. 2 doubles team Tuesday.
Belknap paired newcomer Lily Lohman with sophomore Evie Schooler, whom Belknap has described as a tennis Swiss Army knife.
In their debut, they fell to Emma Cook and Audrey Walker of Fort Scott 8-0, then fell to Gracie Wheller and Willow Vaughn of Chanute 8-0. After falling to Sarah Valle and Morgan McLenon of Independence 8-0, the pair wrapped up the evening on a high note, taking two sets in an 8-2 loss to Izzy DeLuna and Rutu Chaudhari of Pittsburg.
