The Barton women’s tennis team had an impressive weekend in Nebraska. The Cougars, in their annual late January trip to Freemont, defeated Nebraska schools Doane College and Midland University.
Barton won 6-3 over Doane then rolled to a 9-0 win over host Midland. The Cougars will now go back to practicing until the spring season serves up full force in March.
“It was great to see the women get the season off to a positive start,” Barton coach Lyle Stickney said. “They set a dominating tone in the doubles matches and that carried into the singles side.
“We had a couple of hiccups in the Doane dual but we got those issues squared away before playing our matches with Midland.”
Four Cougars were unbeaten on the day in singles and doubles. Daniela Sanz, Juliana Seabra, Idah Longwe and Karli Beck all won both singles and doubles matches.
Sanz had an easy time of it, winning 6-1, 6-1 over Annie Allmand of Midland at No. 1 singles as well as a 6-3, 6-0 win over Doane’s Ellie Bender in singles.
The sophomore from Brazil teamed with Zambia freshman Idah Longwe for a sweep in doubles. The duo defeated Allmand and Whitney Schutt of Midland, 8-3 and Bender and Ashley Zaeske of Doane, 8-4.
“It was business as usual for Dani,” Coach Stickney said of Sanz. “She swept all four of her matches without breaking a sweat.”
Longwe won both her matches at No. 3 singles. She beat Carolyn Howton of Midland 6-0, 6-1 and Bri Kempel of Doane, 6-2, 6-1.
The No. 2 doubles team of Seabra and Beck had an easy win over Midland’s Mikah Wright and Olivia Neth, 8-0. The two had a tougher struggle to beat Bri Kempel and Morgan Meyer of Doane, winning 9-8 in a tiebreaker. The two won the tiebreaker 7-1.
Seabra, a freshman from Brazil, played No. 2 singles for the Cougars, winning 7-5, 6-2 over Schutt of Midland and 6-4, 6-3 over Zaeske of Doane. Beck, a sophomore from Claflin, won 8-0 over Wright of Midland then won the longest battle of the day over Cheyanna Kempel of Doane, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (12-10), 10-3 at No. 4 singles.
Baylee Reade and McKenna Hammeke split their matches on the day – nearly all of them in close fashion. The two beat Midland in No. 3 doubles, winning 9-7 over Howton and Becca Barrett. The two lost to Doane’s duo of Cheyanna Kempel and Savannah Mitchell, 8-6.
In singles, Reade, a freshman from Hutchinson, won 8-2 over Kayla Bussing of Midland but came up short in a battle with Meyer of Midland, 1-6, 6-1, 10-6 at No. 5. Hammeke, a freshman from Claflin, beat Bartlett of Midland, 8-6 but lost to Mitchell of Doane by the same 8-6 score at No. 6.
The spring season will start March 4 when Barton host Colorado Christian College.