Cougar Tennis begins play at National Tournament

Finishing third in the Region VI Tournament a few weeks ago, the Barton Community College men's tennis team advances to play in the NJCAA Division I National Tennis Championship in Plano, Texas, held May 12-16.  

Barton's Vinicius Ono will begin his quest in the No. 1 Singles at 8:00 a.m. against Graham Lightsey from Jones County Junior College.   Ono, who has been battling injuries through the latter part of the season, finished fourth at the Region VI Championships.  The winner of the first round match will play the No. 5 seed Joshua Page from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABCA) on Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. while the loser will drop to a Tuesday afternoon consolation match.  

Alvaro Martinez finished second in the Region VI Championship after getting the top seed being defeated by the nation's No. 18 ranked Erik Eldagsen of Cowley College 6-4, 6-1.  Martinez draws the No. 7 seed for the national tournament taking on Edgar Polanco of Jacksonville College in a 9:15 a.m. opening round.  The winner will advance to Tuesday's 8:00 a.m. round of 16 while the loser will drop to a Tuesday afternoon consolation match.  

Jeret Johnson received a first round bye in the No. 3 singles and will play his first match in the Round of 16 at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday taking on the winner of the Lotfi El Jai of Prairie State College versus Parker Cuevas-Woodall of ABAC taking place on at 10:30 a.m. on Monday.  Johnson was knocked off in the Region VI semifinals by the bracket's top seed and No. 26 ranked Joshua Coleman of Cowley College and took fourth place after having to retire down 2-4 in the first set.

Like Johnson, Nicholas Moyers received a first round bye and will play his No. 4 first match in the Round of 16 at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.  Seeded and finishing third at the Region VI Championships, Moyers will await the winner of the Monday's 10:30 a.m. match between Vincennes University's Harsha Manjunath and Gerardo Gomez of Prairie State.  The winner of the Round of 16 will advance to the Wednesday 9:30 a.m. Quarterfinals match while the loser plays the 3:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon consolation match. 

Austin Jacobs also took third in the Region VI and will begin national play in the No. 5 Singles at 8:00 a.m. Monday against Jones County's Robert Kiewit.  The winner will advance to the 11:45 a.m. Round of 16 match on Tuesday while the loser will drop to the afternoon's consolation match at 3:30 p.m.

Having reached the No. 6 Region VI Championship match, Chase Buntain will begin nationals play in the Round of 16 on Tuesday.  Buntain will await the winner of the Monday's 9:15 a.m. first round match between Prairie State's Jeremy Horvath and Pima Community College's Aldo Amaya.

The No. 1 doubles tandem of Ono and Martinez will put their national No. 6 seed to the test on Monday with a 12:00 p.m. match against Jones County's Graham Lightsey and Harrison Thomas.   The winner will advance to Tuesday's 1:00 p.m. match while the loser drops to 4:30 p.m. afternoon consolation match.

Riding high from a successful Region VI run to finish third, Johnson and Moyers will begin their No. 2 Doubles quest Monday afternoon at 1:15 p.m.  The duo will take on Harford Community College's Tyler Cook and Bobby Frantz with the winner set to take on the No. 3 seed duo of Hamid Derbani and Arturo Alvarez from Laredo Community College at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday.  The loser will bounce to the consolation side of the bracket regrouping for a 4:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon match.

Jacobs and Buntain, who was the third Barton doubles team to finish third in the region, begins No. 3 doubles national play at 2:30 p.m. on Monday.  The Cougar duo will take on Temple College's Nathaniel Boatright and Ricardo Longoria to advance to the Tuesday 2:15 p.m. match against Jacksonville's Taylor Johnson and Miles Munro.  The loser of the match will drop to the 4:30 p.m. consolation match on Tuesday.

Complete tournament coverage can be found here