It is just a matter of finishing. The Barton men’s tennis team seems to be on the cusp of earning its first win of the season. Barton once again came up short this past weekend with a 6-3 loss to Colorado Christian College. Barton also has a pair of 5-4 losses.
“It’s so frustrating, our guys are playing well,” Coach Lyle Stickney said. “Then for some odd reason we start making some bad decisions and the match swings to our opponent’s favor.”
Against Colorado Christian it happened again. The Cougars won two of three doubles matches to take a 2-1 lead.
Barton lost at No. 1 doubles but came up winners at No. 2 and 3.  
Luis Soares and Ray Strunk earned an 8-5 win at No. 2 doubles over Mitch Swim and Chase Gebhart. Triston Herbst and Cole Hardin has a fairly easy time at No. 3, winning 8-3 over Trent Strietelmeier and David Horner.
The lone loss was an 8-3 setback by Lucas Castelani and Sam Barker at No. 1 to Nik Hoime and Ryder Searle.
“The men came out strong, taking a much needed 2-1 lead after doubles,” Coach Stickney said “I thought the momentum would carry over into the singles. I was wrong.”
Barton was able to win just one of the single matches.
That win came at No. 4 where Strunk won a tiebreaker over Swim, 6-2, 4-6, 10-8.
Castelani lost a close match at No. 1 singles, falling in a tiebreaker. Gebhart earned a 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 win over Castelani.
Barton lost the other three matches in straight sets.  
Soares lost at No. 2 to Serle, 6-3, 6-2 and Barker lost No. 3 to Horner, 6-2, 6-1. Herbst was beaten at No. 5 by Strietelmeier, 6-2, 6-3 and Hardin lost at No. 6 to Barrett Cooper, 6-2, 6-2.
“We certainly had our opportunities,” Coach Stickney said. “We get up big in some key games, but, just as we’ve done in the past we failed to close those games out.
“Hopefully we’re learning from these early losses and can get things turned around.”
Barton will travel to Tabor College Tuesday.