Going toe-to-toe in most of Monday's matches at Great Bend's Veterans Park, the 11th ranked Barton Community College men's tennis team pushed the 3rd ranked Saints of Seward County Community College but came up short in some key matches for a 6-3 loss.
Seward County's No. 1 tandem of Sander Jans and Gabriel Nery gave the Saints a 2-1 lead out of doubles play earning an 8-1 win over the Barton's top duo of Guido Luna and Sebastian Pino. The other pair of doubles matches came out split as the Cougars' No. 2 duo of Oswaldo Cano and Mariano Cabrera defeated Nicolas Rousset and Hugo Lobo 8-6 while the No. 3 tandem of Octavio Carrasco and Tom Letecheur came up short by the same score to the Saints' Carlo Izurieta and Francisco Vargas.
Singles play was also a battle up and down the lineup with three going to a 2-1 Saints' edge, a split of straight set victories, and the final match being uncompleted as Seward County had clinched the dual.
One of the three tiebreakers was in the No. 1 matchup as the Cougar's Luna recovered from a 6-4 opening set battle with a 6-3 win before the Saint's national top ranked Rousset prevailed in 10-6 in the tiebreak spoiling the upset bid.
Barton's win in the extra frame was in the No. 3 slot as 38th ranked Pino and the Saints Izurietta traded 6-3 set victories before Pino rose from the dead in the tiebreak in rallying for a 10-8 victory.
In the No. 4 match, the scrip was flipped after 6-3 split sets in the favor of Seward County coming out on top of the tiebreak 10-8 score with 18th ranked Jans doing the late rallying to thwart Cabrera's upset bid.
The teams traded straight sets victories in the No. 2 and 5 slots, Barton's Cano prevailing in the second singles match 6-4, 6-1 over Lobo while Nery held off the Cougars' Carrasco in the fifth match by identical 6-3 scores.
With the match in had for the Saints, No. 6 match-up was called to a halt with Alex Mesquida leading the Cougars' Letecheur after the first set.
Barton (8-3) and Seward County (11-5) will again tangle before the national tournament as the two will be joined by 7th ranked Cowley College (107) for the Region VI Championships in Liberal tentatively set for Friday, April 26.
Men's Results
D1: Sander Jans / Gabriel Nery def. Guido Luna / Sebastian Pino 8-1
D2: Oswaldo Cano / Mariano Cabrera def. Nicolas Rousset / Hugo Lobo 8-6
D3: Carlo Izurieta / Francisco Vargas def. Octavio Carrasco / Tom Letecheur 8-6
S1: #1 Nicolas Rousset def. Guido Luna 6-4, 3-6, 10-6
S2: Oswaldo Cano def. Hugo Lobo 6-4, 6-1
S3: #38 Sebastian Pino def. Carlo Izurieta 3-6, 6-3, 10-8
S4: #18 Sander Jans def. Mariano Cabrera 6-3, 3-6, 10-8
S5: Gabriel Nery def. Octavio Carrasco 6-3, 6-3
S6: Alex Mesquida def. Tom Letecheur Retired