The Barton County Community College men's tennis team had a strong showing this weekend as the squad battled the elements and a tough field of competition at the USTA/ITA Central Region Championships held in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Top singles player Oswaldo Cano continued his strong fall season by notching a pair of victories before falling short in three sets in the semifinals of the thirty-two man field. The second seeded Cano opened with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Cowley's Jan Duben before dispatching Prairie State College's Panashe Garah 6-0. 6-1. Into the semifinals against seventh seeded Fabian Van Huffell of Seward County Community College, the two slugged it out for three sets as Cano took the first 7-5 only to have the Saint win the second 6-4. Cano was able to get past the round with a 6-2 third set score setting up a semifinal bout with another Seward County as third seeded Gabriel Ortiz ended the tournament run by a 6-1, 6-0 score.

Barton's other singles players were bounced to the consolation side of the bracket after first round action with Tom Letecheur taken down 6-3, 6-1 by Ortiz while the Saints' Raul Centeno came out on the top side of 6-4 scores over eighth seeded Sebastian Pino. The Cougars' tough first round draw continued for Arthur Angles in being sent to the consolation by a 6-4, 6-1 tally to sixth seeded Carlos Castillo of Cowley.

In doubles action, second seeded Cano and Pino received a first round bye before taking care of Prairie State's Renan Caleffo and Richard Ngwarwi 8-3 but fell to Seward County's third seeded duo of Centeno and Ortiz in the semifinals.

Angles and Carrasco put up a solid 8-5 battle to the Saints' duo in the tough first round matchup then rebounded to advance to the backside championship with an 8-6 win over Iowa Central's Merlin Bolema and Sacha Colomban, to go along with, a semifinal default. Meeting the host tandem of Arthur Calandre and Nicolas Zumba of Iowa Central, the Cougars' tandem claimed the backside championship registering an 8-3 victory.

Alexandra Abyasova led the four Barton women entered into the nineteen field draw by reaching the semifinals in dominating fashion. The second seeded freshman opened with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Rebecca Van der Lee of Iowa Central before dispatching Cowley College's Arianna Lumanog by a near identical 6-0, 6-1 score. Abyasova's day and run ended in the semifinals against another Cowley opponent as third seeded Georgina Kaindoah prevailed 6-3, 6-2 earning a match in the championship.

Kaindoah also took care of another Cougar in the bracket by ending Claudia Sumaia's day with a 6-0, 6-2 victory. Sumaia began the tournament with a twin 6-1 victory over Iowa Central's Sofia Andrad Solarte advancing to the Round of 16.

The Cougars ran across the Tigers in the other two singles entries as Mariane Lima advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Iowa Central's Juliana Vidal but was dropped by fourth seeded Ane Ibarra 7-5, 6-2, while Sara Martin was on the short end of a 6-2, 6-1 score to Valentina Rodriguez. Martin would then meet up with Cowley's Takalani Molaoa in the consolation quarters as the top seed was upset in three sets with the Tigers again producing the victory by a 8-1 score.

In doubles action the second seeded duo of Abyasova and Sumaia grinded out an 8-5 win over Cowley's Lumanog and Courtney Leonard but fell short in the semifinals by the same score to the Tigers' Molaoa and Andrea Rodriguez.

Lima and Martin ran into an 8-1 buzz saw loss to the top ranked Ibara and Kaindoah, recovering with an 8-1 win in the back draw over Iowa Central's Emma and Rachel Slade. The duo's bid for the consolation championship fell short 8-2 as the Triton's Molaoa and Rodriguez took the crown.