The Barton Community College men knew the task was going to be a tough one. After all, Seward Community College came to town ranked No. 3 in the nation in men’s tennis. Tuesday at Veterans’ Park the Saints showed why.
The Cougar men lost to those No. 3 ranked Saints by an 8-1 count. The Cougars are currently ranked No. 22. It was the first match for either team against a community college foe.
“Once again it was a tale of two continents,” Barton coach Lyle Stickney said. “With the NJCAA reversing the International “two-per-team” rule, schools that had a pool of red-shirt foreign players on their teams are suddenly able to field a team of exclusively internationals.
“It’s decidedly unfair to expect our local boys to have much success in this scenario.”
The lone win on the day for Barton came at No. 2 doubles where a pair of Kansas player prevailed as Matthew Rochat and Dominick Fabiano came away victorious. Rochat and Fabiano defeated Felipe Casares and Alvaro Rengifo by an 8-4 count.
“However, in our best showing of the day our number two doubles team freshmen Dominic Fabiano (Olathe East) and Matthew Rochat (Andover) picked-up a great win over a nationally ranked team,” Coach Stickney said.
The Cougars No. 1 doubles team of Alvaro Martinez and Vitor Schueler fell 8-1 to the 7th ranked doubles in team in NJCAA – Ronzai Saurombe and Vitor Galvao. Barton was blanked at No. 3 doubles 8-0 as Trevor Carey and Tristan Jones lost to Tare Mariga and Paul Arslanian.
The Cougars were only able to win seven total games in singles with Martinez winning three of those at No. 1. In his battle with Saurombe – ranked No. 10 in the nation – Martinez lost 6-0, 6-3.
The Cougars won one game each at No. 2-5. Schueler lost at No. 2, 6-1, 6-0 to Galvao, Fabiano lost at No. 3, 6-1, 6-0 to Rengifo, Rochat was beaten 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4 by Casares, and Carey lost 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5 to Mariga.
Jones was beaten 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6 singles by Arslania.
Barton will get more than a week of before heading to Newton a week from Saturday where they will take on Ottawa Univeristy in a 3 p.m. start. The Cougars will have dates with junior college teams Hesston and Cowley College before the Region VI tournament in late April.