8th ranked Barton men's tennis remains unbeaten following victory at McPherson College #GoBarton
8th ranked Barton men’s tennis remains unbeaten following victory at McPherson College.
Trailing after doubles play on Tuesday, the 8th ranked Barton Community College men's tennis team battled back through singles match-ups to remain unbeaten following a 4-3 victory at McPherson College.
The NAIA 19th ranked Bulldogs won the three tandems to begin the afternoon dual at the Bulldog Tennis Center but the Cougars took the top four singles in clinching the NAIA rules one-point victory.
Improving to 8-0 on the season, Barton will have over a week before hosting NCAA Division II member Newman University at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, March 16, in day two of the Stueder Contractors Cougar Classic.
Victor Alves rose to the occasion in the No. 1 slot of the lineup after dropping his first set 6-4 to rebound with a 6-2 and 10-6 tiebreaker victory to knock off 23rd ranked Michael Beltran.
Following Alves in the lineup, Gabriel Garay at the No. 2 and Fernando Andre at the No. 3 also prevailed in the third set tiebreaker. Garay won his first set 7-4 in the tiebreak, dropped the second 6-4, before prevailing for a tough 12-10 victory over Marcus Nardy. Andre, ranked #39 in the lone fall semester rankings, had to bounce back from a 6-3 first set loss with a 6-4 win for an eventual 10-4 topping of Arthur Nardy in the third frame.
Continuing the Cougar surge through the lineup, Shane Tapera was the lone straight set victory by registering 6-3 scores defeating Oscar Brouwer.
Barton nearly pulled out a victory in the No. 5 slot with Mateo Prado forcing a tiebreaking frame after following a 6-3 loss with a 6-4 victory but Martin Millos would eventually come out on top 13-11.
Rounding out the singles action, Oliver Naude battled in a 7-5 first set before succumbing to Celien Botlan 6-1 for the straight set loss.
McPherson took the NAIA rules 1-0 lead in sweeping the doubles action. The No. 1 tandem of 12th ranked Beltran/Millos won 6-3 over Alves/Andre, A. Nardy/Botlan held off Garay/Tapera 7-5, and in the No. 3 slot Brouwer/Texas Ranger Schmidt defeated Naude/Hayden Loffler 6-1.