Facing its second straight ranked conference opponent, the 6th ranked Barton Community College men's tennis team knocked at the upset door but were turned away by the top ranked Tigers of Cowley College 6-3 on a windy Wednesday afternoon at Great Bend's Shannon Schartz Tennis Courts.
The Tigers took a 2-1 lead after doubles action then pulled out a pair of three set victories to hold off Barton to win four of the six singles matchups.
Barton's No. 2 tandem of James Kaoma and Barnabas Kalaba earned the Cougars' lone doubles victory knocking off the Cowley's Boruch Skierkier and Gaston Erhardt 8-5. The Tigers got revenge in singles play as the four matched up against each other again. Skierkier, ranked 2nd in the latest poll, prevailed 6-1, 6-4, in the No. 2 slot while Erhardt prevailed in three sets of the No. 4 slot over Kalaba. Down after a 7-5 result, the 13th ranked Tiger turned back Kalaba's upset bid in taking the final two sets 6-1 and 6-4.
Tsholofelo Tsiang pulled the upset of the afternoon in the No. 6 singles match, winning 6-4 and 9-7 in the tiebreak to knock off 24th ranked Taiyo Hirano.
No. 3 position player Eduardo Morais picked up the other Barton singles victories, also winning in tiebreak for straight set win by defeating Hanamichi Carvajal 6-2 and 8-7.
Barton nearly split the singles matches as the marathon match of the day came in the No. 5 flight. Samyak Bajracharya and the Tigers' Andoni Garmendia trading big margin sets, Bajracharya winning the first 6-0 with Garmendia forcing the third with a 6-1 win. Battling point for point in the final frame, Bajracharya's couldn't finish off mulitple match point opportunities as Garmendia rallied with three straight points to win 14-12.
Now 1-1 in conference play after a win over 11th ranked Pratt and the loss to the top ranked Tigers, next on the schedule is Barton's third straight ranked league opponent in Monday's hosting of 3rd ranked Seward County Community College. First serve slated for 1:00 p.m. at Schartz Courts.
Singles Results:
#1 Gustavo Campos lost to #1 Takeshi Taco 6-0, 6-2
#2 James Kaoma lost to #2 Boruch Skierkier 6-1, 6-4
#3 Eduardo Morais won over Hanamichi Carvajal 6-2, 7-6(7)
#4 Barnabas Kalaba lost to #13 Gaston Erhardt 5-7, 6-1, 6-4
#5 Samyak Bajracharya lost to Andoni Garmendia 0-6, 6-1, 14-12
#6 Tsholofelo Tsiang won over #24 Taiyo Hirano 6-4, 7-6(7)
Doubles Results:
#1 Gustavo Campos/Eduardo Morais lost to #5 Aymeric Bruno/Taiyo Hirano 8-3
#2 James Kaoma/Barnabas Kalaba won over Boruch Skierkier/Gaston Erhardt 8-5
#3 Samyak Bajracharya/ Tsholofelo Tsiang lost to Takeshi Taco/Andoni Garmendia 8-5