INDEPENDENCE — Iola High School sophomore Mosiah Fawson picked up his first tournament title of 2026 after defeating senior Matthew McLenon of Independence to take the No. 1 singles trophy at the Independence Invitational Monday. The win was significant. McLenon placed ninth at last year’s state tennis tournament.
Also seeing success was the No. 1 doubles team of seniors Trapper Boren and Brodie Thompson who took second place. The No. 2 doubles freshman tandem Logan Belknap and Maddux Franklin continued showing their development with a fourth-place finish.
“We had a fun, windy day of tennis in Indy,” said Iola coach Chris Belknap. “We played a lot of really good matches and had a lot of fun.”
Fawson opened the tournament with an 8-2 victory over Neodesha’s Jack DeLong to break into the title match. In the title match, Fawson defeated Indy’s ace McLenon 8-7 in a back-and-forth battle.
“Fawson worked hard and beat him in a tie breaker,” Coach Belknap said.
In doubles action, Boren and Thompson opened with an 8-1 victory over the Neodesha tandem of Alex Mareoquin and Jaxson Lawson. They fell to Indy’s Logan Peschka and Heston Smith, 8-2, in the title match for second place.
Belknap and Franklin fell to J.D. Woodburn and Zayne Al-Bureni, 8-2, of Independence. In the consolation finals, they fell to Coffeyville’s Brennen Westervelt and Westyn Wallce, 8-2.
The Mustangs return to the court Thursday for the Pittsburg Invitational. First serve is at 4 p.m.
