The Mustang tennis team wrapped up the first week of its season on Thursday with their home meet against Independence, Columbus and Parsons.
After an up-down performance in the season opener in Independence on Tuesday, the Mustangs were largely dominant in their home debut on Thursday.
The team was led by returning state qualifier Rhett Allen. The senior went 3-0 against his competition at the No. 2 singles spot.
“I played a lot better than I played on Tuesday, so I feel really good about today,” Allen said. “I need to just get my record better and better, so at regionals, I can get a good draw and get back to state.”
Allen started his afternoon against Independence’s Samson Mah and was able to roll to a 8-3 victory.
His day continued with a match against Columbus’ Reese White and he was able to pick up an even more lopsided victory with an 8-1 margin.
“I worked really hard on my forehand and topspin so that was a lot better today,”Allen said.
In his finale for Thursday, Allen knocked off Parson’s Pierce Thomas 8-3.
“He has had a pretty good start,” Iola coach Dan Berg said of Allen. “That makes him 5-2 on the year right now.”
Allen wasn’t completely satisfied though and had a simple answer for where he wants to improve.
“My backhand.”
Another huge bright spot for Iola was the play of their No. 2 doubles pairing of freshman Adryan Nading and sophomore Jackson Cone.
Cone and Nading are part of what Berg considers a season-long rotation at the No. 2 doubles spots, but they showed on Thursday that they definitely have to ability to play well at that level.
“They are all first-year players for the high school, all four of them,” Berg said of Cone, Nading, Eason Cheung and Elijah Fawson. “More than likely, I’ll just alternate who plays with who.”
Cone and Nading opened with a hard-fought 8-7 victory over Independence’s Ben Roark and Cooper Short on a tiebreaker and then finished up with a 8-6 win over Parsons’ William Gray and Jon Duncan.
The duo was limited to just the two matches, because Columbus doesn’t have a No. 2 doubles team this season.
The Mustangs’ No. 1 singles player Isaiah Fawson had a good day by going 2-1 against his competition on Thursday.
