FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.-The Barton College men's tennis team dominated doubles play and then held off a singles rally by host Methodist College for a 5-4 win Wednesday afternoon at Monarch Courts.
The Bulldogs have won two straight, moving over .500 on the early season at 2-1. Barton will begin Conference Carolinas play at home Friday against Erskine College at 2 p.m.
The junior tandem of Pier-Alexandre Desilets (Beloeil, Canada) and Renato Mendes (Sao Paulo, Brazil) clinched the victory with straight set wins. Desilets disposed of the Monarchs No. 3 player 6-1, 6-2 and Mendes captured a 6-1, 6-3 win in the fourth slot.
The Monarchs (3-2) gutted out four singles wins to make things interesting including a 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 marathon win by No. 5 Robert Clayton over senior Diego Salinas (Mexico City) before Methodist suffered its first home loss of the season.
Barton built a commanding 3-0 advantage in doubles play. The Bulldogs top pair of senior Cesar Grobel (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and freshman Gabriel Araujo (Recife, Brazil) had a tough test against the Monarchs duo of Matthew Taylor and Duncan Miller, who were undefeated at 4-0 heading into the marquee match. Grobel/Araujo played well and prevailing 8-5, handing Taylor/Miller their first loss.
Mendes and Salinas provided the Royal Blue and White with an 8-3 win and Desilets and senior Leandro Peron (Santana de Parnaiba, Brazil) cruised to an 8-2 victory.
