The 6th ranked Barton Community College men's tennis team placed third Sunday at the KJCCC/Region VI Championships held over the weekend at Maize South High School courts.
Barton compiled 5.5 points in the four-team tough regional as the nation's top ranked team Cowley College scored 16 points to double up runner-up and 2nd ranked Seward County with 10th ranked Pratt coming up empty on the scoreboard.
The top three of the region earned an automatic bid for the NJCAA Division I Championships as Barton joins the Tigers and Saints May 16-20 in Tyler, Texas, while Pratt's season comes to an end.
Barnabas Kalaba registered a pair of upsets on Saturday, the first coming in teaming up with doubles partner James Kaoma in the No. 2 flight to knock off the nation's sixth ranked duo of Luke Quaynor and Kyllian Savary of Seward County 6-2, 7-6 (7-2). Kalaba returned to the courts in the afternoon session competing in the No. 4 flight of singles to then knock-off 19th ranked Juan Gonzalez of Seward County 7-6 (7-2), 6-1.
On Sunday, Barnabas and Kaoma pushed Cowley's 7th ranked Boruch Skierkier and Gaston Erhardt to three sets as the Cougar duo won the first set 6-4 but the Tigers fired back to take the next two for the championship 6-1 and 6-2. Barnabas' singles title bid also fell short as Cowley's 18th ranked Gaston Erhardt won in straight sets 6-2, 7-5.
With the exception of Kalabas' second place in doubles and singles, the Cougars were seeded and finished third throughout the other flights after dropping opening matches to nationally ranked players or duos in the packed regional.
Four such teams battled in the No. 1 flight of tandem play, the Cougars' 11th ranked Gustavo Campos and Eduardo Morais falling 6-4 and 6-2 to 4th ranked Aymeric Bruno and Taiyo Hirano of Cowley before prevailing 6-4 and 6-3 over Pratt's 19th ranked Dante Despontin and David Arrieta for third place.
The same was true in the top singles flight with 29th ranked Gustavo falling 6-2 and 6-0 to 3rd ranked Luciano Fisicaro of Seward County before earning a 6-3 and 6-2 victory over Pratt's 36th ranked Despontin.
Complete Results
Doubles #1
#2 (4) Aymeric Bruno & Taiyo Hirano (Cowley) defeated #3 (11) Gustavo Campos & Eduardo Morias (Barton) 6-4, 6-2
Third Place Match: #3 (11) Gustavo Campos & Eduardo Morias (Barton) defeated #4 (19) Dante Despontin & David Arrieta (Pratt) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles #2
#3 James Kaoma & Barnabas Kalaba (Barton) defeated #2 (6) Luke Quaynor & Kyllian Savary (Seward) 2-6, 7-6 (7-2)
Championship Match: #1 (7) Boruch Skierkier & Gaston Erhardt (Cowley) defeated James Kaoma & Barnabas Kalaba (Barton) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
Doubles #3
#2 (17) Juan Gonzalez & Franco Vecchia (Seward) defeated #3 Samyak Bajracharya & Tsholofelo Tsiang (Barton) 6-2, 6-1
Third Place Match: # 3 Samyak Bajracharya & Tsholofelo Tsiang (Barton) defeated #4 Auron Hoyer & Nathaniel Moore (Pratt) 6-3, 6-4
Singles #1
#2 (3) Luciano Fisicaro (Seward) defeated #3 (29) Gustavo Campos (Barton) 6-2, 6-0
Third Place Match: #3 (29) Gustavo Campos (Barton) defeated #4 (36) Dante Despontin (Pratt) 6-3, 6-2
Singles #2
#2 (4) Boruch Skierkier (Cowley) defeated #3 James Kaoma (Barton) 6-2, 6-1
Third Place Match: #3 James Kaoma (Barton) defeated # 4 David Arrieta (Pratt) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
Singles #3
#2 (17) Hanamichi Carvajal (Cowley) defeated #3 Eduardo Morais (Barton) 6-2, 6-4
Third Place Match: #3 Eduardo Morais (Barton) defeated #4 Vitor Goncalves (Pratt) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
Singles #4
#3 Barnabas Kalaba (Barton) defeated #2 (19) Juan Gonzalez (Seward) 7-6 (2), 6-1
Championship Match: #1 (18) Gaston Erhardt (Cowley) defeated #3 Barnabas Kalaba (Barton) 6-2, 7-5
Singles #5
#2 (22) Harry Collins (Cowley) defeated #3 Samyak Bajracharya (Barton) 6-0, 6-0
Third Place Match: #3 Samyak Bajracharya (Barton) defeated #4 Oleksandr Makarov (Pratt) 7-5, 6-1
Singles #6
#2 (21) Martins Abamu (Seward) defeated #3 Tsholofelo Tsiang (Barton) 7-5, 6-2
Third Place Match: #3 Tsholofelo Tsiang (Barton) defeated #4 Vinicius Costa (Pratt) 6-3, 6-1
Team Scores
#1 Cowley - 16 points
#2 Seward - 8 points
#6 Barton - 5.5 points
#10 Pratt - 0 points