PRATT -- The Barton Community College men's tennis team put a lid on the 2025 regular season with first-place finishes in both the Conference and Region VI tournament . . . the first men’s titles in 17 seasons.

The Barton Cougars claimed first place, Cowley College was runner-up followed by Seward County and Pratt.

The Cougars had a combined 11-4 match record (8 - 4 singles, 3 - 0 doubles) over their two days of competition in Pratt. With the tournament’s team outcome already determined the doubles finals were suspended due to lightning and rain.

“Rain was the theme of the tournament this year. We had several delays the first day, an adjusted start time on day two, and ultimately a complete stoppage of play during the doubles finals as lightning broke across the sky” said Barton coach Lyle Stickney.

Four Cougars advanced to the singles finals in their respective flight.

In the No. 1 division, top seeded Gabriel Garay faced second seeded and familiar opponent Sami Antwi of Seward County. Garay won 6-2, 6-1 and moved his season record to 14-2.

Victor Alves won the No. 2 flight with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Cowley’s De La Riva. Alves overall singles record stands at 10-5

Oliver Naude won the No. 5 division final 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. Naude has a 4-2 win/loss record.

“All of the wins were important, but truthfully Oliver winning the No. 5 position was massive. His win clinched the team title for us and took all of the pressure off of our doubles matches”

Picking up points for the team were runner-up finisher Shane Tapera (10-4) at the No. 4 position and Hayden Loffler taking third in the No. 6 spot. Loffler finishes the regular season with a record of 9-5.

Ranked 5th in the NJCAA final regular season poll, the Cougars head to the NJCAA National Championships held at the Eddie Floyd Tennis Center in Florence, South Carolina May 12 – 17,

.