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No. 9 Cougar women's tennis wins twice
COUGAR HEAD
The brand-spanking-new hardwood floor inside Kirkman Activity Center on the Barton campus LT & Sheila Fleske Court features a new Cougars logo in the middle of the court. - photo by Mack McClure Great Bend Tribune

The No. 9-ranked Barton Cougar women's tennis team produced a perfect day, hosting the Steuder Contractors' Cougar Tennis Classic.

The Cougars defeated NCAA Division 2 opponents Fort Hays State 6-3 and 8-1 over Colorado State University Pueblo. The Stueder Tennis Classic was played at Veterans Memorial Park's Shannon Schartz Tennis Courts.

Barton opened the day by taking two of the three doubles matches against Fort Hays State. 

The duo of Vitoria Campigotto and Danira Ndengoue captured the No. 1 doubles match 8-5, while Grace Tchamoussa and Jamie Petrova followed with an 8-4 victory at the No. 2 position.  Fort Hays State claimed the remaining doubles match at the third spot over Salalee Seejong and Lauren Barker.

The Cougars then sealed the match in singles play with four victories. NJCAA No. 16-ranked Campigotto delivered a commanding 6-1, 6-0 victory at the top position, while No. 18 Ndengoue followed with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2.  Tchamoussa added a dominant double-bagel 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 3 and Petrova completed Barton's fourth singles point with a 6-1, 6-4 triumph at No. 4 to secure the team win.  Seejong and Barker each dropped their matches: Seejong coming out on the short side of a third set tiebreaker, while Barker lost in straight sets to Barton-alum Diana Sousa, now playing for the Tigers.

In the second match of the day, Barton wasted little time asserting control against CSU Pueblo by sweeping the doubles play.   Campigotto and Ndengoue led the way with an 8-4 victory at No. 1 doubles, while the pairing of Tchamoussa and Petrova added an 8-3 win at No. 2. Seejong and Barker receiving a default victory at No. 3 doubles.

The Cougars continued their momentum in singles play, winning five of the six matches. Campigotto posted a 6-2, 7-5 victory at No. 1 singles, while Ndengoue battled through a competitive opening set before pulling away for a 7-5, 6-0 win at the second position. Tchamoussa rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 victory at No. 3, Petrova followed with a 6-0, 6-2 decision at No. 4.  Barton also picked up a default win at No. 6 singles. CSU Pueblo's lone point came at No 5 singles over Seejong, while Barker enjoyed the rest of the day off as the ThunderWolves were open at the sixth singles spot. The victories moved their record to 5-0 on the season.

COLLIN COLLEGE SUPER BASH Barton faced four top-10-ranked junior college teams in the SW Region. 

The Cougar women defeated Jacksonville College 9-0 without losing a set.

Barton then played a double-dual on Friday, first facing No. 8 Weatherford College in the morning session and No. 3 Tyler Junior College that afternoon. 

“We knew we had a monumental task before us, playing two of the best teams in the nation on the same day, but the girls were up for it,” said Barton’s Coach Lyle Stickney . Barton picked up wins at the #1 and #2 doubles spots to take an early 2-1 lead in the match. “The doubles points are so very important; it takes so much pressure off of the singles matches when we can go into the individual matches with a lead.”  

Ndengoue and Tchamoussa wasted little time in knocking off their opponents . . . to put the Cougars up 4-1. Weatherford picked up wins at the #5 and #6 positions to close the score to 4-3.  Petrova came through in a 2 ½-hour battle . . . winning the third set tiebreaker to clinch the dual for Barton. 

Campigotto also prevailed in an equally long slugfest at the #1 spot winning her match 10-5 in the super-tiebreaker . . . to make the final score 6-3. “That’s a huge win for our girls; it was one of those matches where the momentum continually changed. Thankfully, Vitoria and Jamie were each able to pull out wins and secure the team win.”

The #9 ranked and undefeated (7-0) Lady Cougars squared off against #3 Tyler Junior College in the Friday afternoon round. "Well, all good things must come to an end, and it did as Tyler beat us 8-1.  There’s a reason that Tyler is the #3 team in the nation and it was illustrated here in Plano today,” Stickney stated.  Barton’s lone win came at the #2 singles spot, where Ndengoue won in convincing fashion:  6-3, 6-2. “Most of our matches were competitive  but, we really struggled to close out games and especially tiebreakers . . . I think we lost all three tiebreakers today.”

Barton closed the event Saturday morning against #4-ranked host, Collin County Community College. “After playing 27 matches in the past 36 hours, I was concerned about our ability to have team members healthy enough to take the court, said Stickney. "We had some players feeling the effects of the Texas heat, some nagging tendonitis, and a horribly disfiguring toenail loss, but thankfully, all the players were all able to answer the bell.” 

Barton quickly fell behind 1-2 after doubles play and struggled to get it going on the singles side. Collin won five of the six singles matches to take the dual 7-2. “There’s absolutely no shame in those two losses this weekend," Stickney remarked.  "We lost to two very quality programs. Grace stepped up once again and delivered. She had an outstanding tournament . . . winning six of her eight total matches. And overall, she’s 8-1 this season in singles matches.”