Sophomores Shai Cartmill and Neus Torregrosa both reached the finals of Friday's Region VI Championship held in Arkansas City helping the Barton Community College women's tennis team place third in the Championships earning a national team berth. The No. 21 ranked Lady Cougars accumulated 14.5 points, 4.5 points behind No. 10 ranked Cowley College, and well behind the No. 4 ranked Lady Saints of Seward County Community College's title winning 25 points.
One of the few upsets of the day's action came at the No. 4 singles as the Lady Cougars' Cartmill avenged a twin 6-1 loss to Cowley's Mariana Rodriguez on April 5 by knocking off the host Friday in straight sets 7-5, 6-4. Cartmill later faced No. 50 ranked Steffany Bermudez for the Region title, losing in straight 6-0 sets.
In a battle of top twenty ranked No. 1 singles players, Neus Torregrosa took care of Cowley's 20th ranked Kristela Vidnere 6-3, 6-4, for the second time this season but the second time was not the charm against Seward County's Patricia Panda as the 8th ranked Saint captured the title with a 6-4, 7-5 victory.
Torregrosa and Cartmill also were the closest of the three doubles tandems to reach the finals but fell 6-3, 6-4 in the No. 1 duo match to Cowley's Vidnere and Laura Rincon.
Outside of Cartmill and Torregrosa getting to the finals, Sarah Hammer came the closest to reaching the finals in the No. 2 singles matchup, pushing Cowley's Rincon to a third set rallying from a 6-4 first set loss with a 6-1 win before falling 6-0 to be bounced to the third place match.
Barton took care of Hesston in the seven third place matches to place third overall as a team in earning a national tournament berth. The Lady Cougars, along with Seward County and Cowley, will each compete May 6-10 in the NJCAA Division I Women's Championships being held at the Waco Regional Tennis and Fitness Center in Waco, Texas.
Team Scores:
#4 Seward County 25
#10 Cowley College 19
#21 Barton 14.5
Hesston College 0
Barton Individual Results:
Women's #1 Singles
Semis - #9 Neus Torregrosa (Barton) def #20 Kristela Vidnere (Cowley) 6-3, 6-4
Finals - #8 Patricia Panta (Seward) def #9 Torregrosa (Barton) 6-4, 7-5
Women's #2 Singles
Semis - Laura Rincon (Cowley) def Sarah Hammer (Barton) 6-4, 1-6, 6-0
3rd place – Hammer (Barton) def Hannah Rosenbaum (Hesston) 6-3, 6-1
Women's #3 Singles
Semis - #45 Aletta Macheli (Cowley) def Ksenija Dmitrovic (Barton) 6-2, 6-1
3rd place – Dmitrovic (Barton) def Harune Suzuki (Hesston) 1-0 (ret)
Women's #4 Singles
Semis - Shai Cartmill (Barton) def Mariana Rodriguez (Cowley) 7-5, 6-4
Finals - #50 Steffany Bermudez (Seward) def Cartmill (Barton) 6-0, 6-0
Women's #5 Singles
Semis - Margot Fontaine (Cowley) def Jenna Groene (Barton) 6-1, 6-0
3rd place – Groene (Barton) def Kaede Nakada (Hesston) 6-1, 6-0
Women's #6 Singles
Semis - Yusra Hegy (Seward) def Thamires Lima (Barton) 6-0, 6-0
3rd place - Lima (Barton) def Anna Zehr (Hesston) 6-3, 6-2
Women's #1 Doubles
Semis - Vidnere/Rincon (Cowley) def Torregrosa/Cartmill (Barton) 6-3, 6-4
3rd place - Torregrosa/Cartmill def Wait/Rosenbaum (Hesston) 8-1
Women's #2 Doubles
Semis - Rodriguez/Macheli (Cowley) def Hammer/Groene (Barton) 6-2, 6-1
3rd place - Hammer/Groene (Barton) def Bracknell/Suzuki (Hesston) 8-4
Women's #3 Doubles
Semis - Lamer/Fontaine (Cowley) def Dmitrovic/Lima (Barton) 6-2, 6-1
3rd place - Dmitrovic/Lima (Barton) def Nakada/Zehr (Hesston) 8-2