Barton Men’s Tennis gets three to National Quarterfinals, Day Two not as kind to the Cougars

The second day at the NJCAA Division I National Tennis Championship looked promising for the Barton Community College men's tennis team entering play with all six single players in the Round of 16.  With the sun setting on the day's action in Plano, Texas, the Cougars took a hit leaving only two singles in the championship bracket, one in the consolation bracket, and three being eliminated from competition.   Doubles play wasn't much friendlier to the Cougars with one duo alive in the championship bracket while the other two tandems were sent to the consolation bracket. 

With an impressive first round victory in the No. 1 Singles flight, Vinicius Ono battling through injuries was bounced from singles play falling 6-1, 6-0, to the tournament's No. 5 seed Joshua Page from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABCA).   

Like Ono in the first round, seventh seeded Alvaro Martinez followed his first round impressive win with a second consecutive victory dispatching Christian Duchnak of New Mexico Military Institute 6-2, 6-3, to advance to the No. 2 Singles Quarterfinals.  Martinez will have the fight for his season meeting the tournament's No. 1 seed Jack Boling of ASA College in an 8:00 a.m. Wednesday match.

Taking a hit in the Round of 16, Jeret Johnson bounced back in the No. 3 Singles to stay alive in the consolation bracket.  Losing 6-0, 6-1, to ABCA's Parker Cuevas-Woodall, Johnson returned to the court later in the day to send Lotfi El Jai of Prairie State College home from the tournament with an 8-4 victory.  Johnson will next play at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday against Glendale Community College's Enrique Ledesma.   

In the No. 4 singles, Nicholas Moyers was sent to the consolation bracket by Vincennes University's Harsha Manjunath by the scores of 6-1, 6-2.  Unlike Johnson, Moyers was unable to survive the day being eliminated 8-5 by Prairie State's Gerardo Gomez.

No. 5 Singles player Austin Jacobs, one of three Cougars to play and win their first round match, fell to Mesa Community College's Ryan Huss 6-2, 6-2, and was eliminated from singles play.  

Joining Martinez as the lone Cougars to reach the final eight in the championship bracket was Chase Buntain in the No. 6 Singles flight.   Buntain knocked off Prairie State's Jeremy Horvath 6-1, 6-3, advancing to Wednesday's quarterfinal round.  Just like Martinez, Buntain will have the tall task of knocking off the tournament's top seed, playing ASA's Shaquille Taylor in a 9:30 a.m. match.

The No. 1 doubles tandem of Ono and Martinez lived up to their national No. 6 seed in the first round defeating Jones County's Graham Lightsey and Harrison Thomas 6-1, 6-1.  The duo will take on the Hartford Community College tandem of Murilo Basso and Leonardo Sanches in a 1:00 p.m. Round of 16 match on Wednesday.   Basso and Sanches advanced to the sixteen with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, hard fought victory over Itawamba Community College's Austin McElwain and Nathaniel Pinkney.

The No. 2 and No. 3 Doubles teams were quite as fortunate in the first round as both were sent to the consolation bracker.   Johnson and Moyers lost their No. 2 Doubles match 6-2, 7-5, to Harford Community College's Tyler Cook and Bobby Frantz while the No. 3 duo of Jacobs and Buntain lost 6-2, 6-2, to Temple College's Nathaniel Boatright and Ricardo Longoria.  Both teams will next play in the consolation quarterfinals at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday versus opponents yet to be determined.