HARTSVILLE, S.C.-Senior Cesar Grobel and junior P.A. Desilets each won twice to help lead Barton College to a 5-4 Conference Carolinas men's tennis victory over host Coker College on Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs improved to 4-2 overall and remain perfect in league play at 2-0. The Cobras dip to 4-6 including 2-3 in conference contests.
Barton continued its strong play in doubles taking a 2-1 lead heading into singles action. Grobel paired up with freshman Gabriel Araujo (Recife, Brazil) for a controlling 8-1 win and Desilets joined forces with senior Leandro Peron (Santana de Parnaiba, Brazil) for an 8-3 victory. Both duo's now boast 4-2 overall doubles records.
The Royal Blue and White held on for the one-point victory by splitting singles play. Grobel (Sao Paulo, Brazil) – currently ranked No. 32 nationally – was leading 6-1, 5-2 when his opponent retired for the victory.
Desilets (Beloeil, Canada) – the reigning Conference Carolinas Player of the Week – won his fourth consecutive singles match with a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 3. Desilets leads BC with a 4-1 spring record.
Barton got its last important point from senior No. 5 Diego Salinas (Mexico City, Mexico), who gutted out a 7-6, 6-4 victory.
Grobel (3-2) moves over .500 on the season while Salinas (3-3) evens his record.
Barton will host non-conference Shaw University in a rescheduled matched from earlier in the season on Thursday at 2 p.m.
