HESSTON – It was an outing the Barton Community College men’s tennis team was looking to build some momentum on. The Cougars were looking for back-to-back wins for the first time this season and crawl back to .500 in dual matches.

But it wasn’t to be. The No. 22 ranked Cougars lost 6-3 at Hesston in Region VI play. The loss drops Barton to 3-5 on year with just one more regular season match on the schedule.

“I cautioned my team that Hesston was not a pushover, but, we still  came into today’s match not respecting their squad,” Coach Lyle Stickney said. “Traditionally Barton has had our way with them, however that wasn’t the case today.”

The Cougars weren’t able to win beyond the duo of Alvaro Martinez and Vitor Schueler. Those two went 2-0 on the day.

The duo teamed for an 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles over Lucas Caywood and Andry Stutzman. Schueler had an easy time at No. 2 singles, winning 6-2, 6-1 over Eric Cender.

Martinez had to battle past LeFevre at No. 1 singles in what looked like it might be a big win for the Cougars. Martinez won 6-3, 5-7, 10-5 in the tiebreaker.

But those would be the only three wins. Barton nearly pulled out another win at No. 2 doubles at Matthew Rochat and Dominic Fabiano dropped a 9-8 (7-4) decision to Cender and Yuki Torii. The Cougars No. 3 dobules team of Trevor Carey and Tristan Jones lost 8-3 to LeFevre and Yuu Sakaguchi.

After the first two singles, Barton wasn’t able to win a set. Chase Penka lost at No. 3 singles 6-1, 6-0 to Sakaguchi.

Rochat gave Caleb Schrock-Hurst a battle at No. 4 but fell short 6-3, 6-2.

Carey lost to Stutzman at No. 5, 6-2, 6-0 and Jones lost 6-0, 6-3 to Caywood at No. 6.

The Cougars will travel to Arkansas City to take on the No. 4 team in the country Monday in Cowley College. The Region VI meet at the end of the month will be at the same location and include Barton, Hesston, and Cowley as well as No. 3 ranked Seward County.