The Iola High Fillies tennis team wrapped up a strong season at the 4A regional tournament in Independence Friday.
The Fillies brought one singles player and two doubles teams; each fell short of moving on to the state tournament with two of the teams ending up just a win away from advancing.
In my 13 years of coaching weve had some girls get to that final match that would determine who advanced to the state tournament, head coach Jenn Bycroft said. Its always a huge accomplishment to get there. Im proud of the girls, their sportsmanship on the court and all theyve been able to do this season.
Junior Allie Utley was the five-seed in the singles bracket and came out strong with a 6-2, 6-0 win over 12th-seeded Aubri Stewart of Labette before falling 6-0, 6-0 to El Dorados Nalea Payton, a four-seed.
It was during that El Dorado match that Utley started to have some leg pain. After dropping the first set 6-3 to eight seed Kori Babcock of Chanute, Utley had to throw in the towel down 3-0 in set two due to the injury. Had Utley won that final match, she wouldve advanced to state.
It took a couple of games for Allie to get going in her match but then she breezed through her first match pretty easily, placing her shots really well, Bycroft said. I told her just to play her game.
Utley ended the season with a 14-7 record.
The other team just a match away from advancing was the doubles team of juniors Gabby Richards and Carlie Payne who were the seventh seed in the bracket.
The team opened the match with a close win over 10th seed El Dorado, falling in set one 6-5 with a 7-5 tiebreak, and winning set two 6-4 to trigger a first-to-10 super tiebreak. They won the super tiebreak 11-9.
They had some frustrating situations occur during this match so I was proud of how they handled themselves to get the win, Bycroft said.
Payne and Richards then lost to two-seed Labette 6-3, 6-1 before facing the other El Dorado team, this one a six seed, for a ticket to state.
The girls were close in set one, losing 6-4 before letting the final set go 6-2 to end the match.
They end the season with a 12-9 record and a seventh-place regional finish.
Wrapping up play for the Fillies was Iolas other doubles team consisting of senior Kassy Shelby and sophomore Sidney Shelby.
With an 11th-seed in the tournament, they had the toughest road out of any of the Fillies and it showed in their opening match as they lost 6-0 and 6-0 to six-seed El Dorado.
