Cougar tennis comes up short at Rockhurst #GoBarton

The 7th ranked Barton County Community College men's team came up short Thursday in a 4-3 loss at Rockhurst University.

In a tightly played contest in each of the nine matches, Barton fell behind 1-0 after dropping two of the three doubles play before splitting the six singles including coming up on the short end of a pair of three set matches.

James Kaoma and Barnabas Kalaba earned the Cougars' lone doubles victory with a decisive 6-1 victory in the No. 2 slot over Rockhurst's Nicolas Leon and Simon Birgerson.

Barton battled tough in the other doubles slots, the No. 1 duo of Samrakshyak Bajracharya and Eduardo Morais falling 6-4 to Martijn Eleveld and Santiago Rodriguez while the No. 3 tandem of Leonel Caspe and Felipe Serrate fell in the tiebreak 7-6(3) to Alex Bernadas and Brian King.

Victories in singles play came from No. 2 Kaoma with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Eleveld, Kalaba ina 6-3, 7-5 win over Joe Harris in the No. 5, and Caspe's 7-5, 6-1 win in the No. 6.

Two of the singles play went to three sets earning Rockhurst a pair of victories as Birgerson defeated the Cougars' No. 1 Bajracharya 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-3 and in the No. 3 slot while Rodriguez prevailed over Morais in the No. 3 by 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 scores.

Victor Pestana fell in the No. 4 play 6-2, 6-2 to Nicolas Leon.

The Cougars' next action comes Friday in the two-day SW JUCO Regional in Plano, Texas.

Doubles Results:
D1: Martijn Eleveld / Santiago Rodriguez def. Samrakshyak Bajracharya / Eduardo Morais 6-4
D2: James Kaoma / Barnabas Kalaba def. Nicolas Leon / Simon Birgerson 6-1
D3: Alex Bernadas / Brian King def. Leonel Caspe / Felipe Serrate 7-6(3)

Singles Results:
S1: Simon Birgerson def. Samrakshyak Bajracharya 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-3
S2: James Kaoma def. Martijn Eleveld 6- 4, 6-1
S3: Santiago Rodriguez def. Eduardo Morais 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
S4: Nicolas Leon def. Victor Pestana 6-2, 6-2
S5: Barnabas Kalaba def. Joe Harris 6-3, 7-5
S6: Leonel Caspe def. Alex Bernadas 7-5, 6-1