PARSONS — Independence continued its dominance of the Southeast Kansas League in girls’ tennis. The Lady Bulldogs took first place in the SEK League Tournament on Monday to capture their third consecutive title.
IHS, which won three of the four divisions, finished the tournament with 24 points to take the top spot. Chanute came in second with 18 points, followed by Pittsburg and Parsons in third with 14 points each, Fort Scott in fifth with 10 and Labette County in sixth with 8. Coffeyville did not record a point in the tournament to take seventh place.
Independence won the SEK championship for the 14th time in the last 16 seasons, including three straight years. Since the inception of the league tournament in 1974, IHS has now won 35 of the 46 titles overall.
“We have a long history of competing well at SEK League tournament, so our ladies understand the history and the pressure that goes along with it,” said Lady Bulldog coach Sam Carnes. “We returned many pieces from last year’s SEK Championship team, so the issue was figuring out who would play what position. We can’t be satisfied with this title, even though it’s very nice to win this tournament, as it gives us momentum coming into the weekend.”
Claiming SEK championships for Independence were Kaydn King and Tia Gregory at No. 1 doubles, Piper Marquez and Blair Dodson at No. 2 doubles, and Jenna Eytcheson at No. 2 singles.
King and Gregory beat Parsons’ Lauren Farris and Jaidyn Shultz in the final, 6-2, 6-2. Marquez and Dodson earned a 6-3, 6-1 decision over Pittsburg’s Faye Cawyer and Haley McCabe. Meanwhile, Eytcheson took down top-seeded Sophie Osborn of Chanute, 6-2, 6-2.
Gracen Friess of Parsons captured the No. 1 singles championship by shutting down Kori Babcock of Chanute, 6-0, 6-2, in the final.
Here are the full standings and completed brackets for all four divisions of the SEK League Girls’ Tennis Tournament:
SEK Girls Tennis-Team Scores
SEK Girls Tennis-No. 1 Singles
SEK Girls Tennis-No. 2 Singles
SEK Girls Tennis-No. 1 Doubles
SEK Girls Tennis-No. 2 Doubles