by Benny Benton
SUMTER, S.C. – The sixth-seeded Barton College men's tennis team knocked off No. 3 seed North Greenville University, 5-2, in the quarterfinals of the Conference Carolinas Tournament on Friday at the Palmetto Tennis Center.
The victory advances the Bulldogs (13-6) into a semifinal match on Saturday at noon against No. 2 seed King University, which blanked No. 7 seed Erskine College, 5-0, on Friday. North Greenville's season ended at 9-9.
North Greenville pulled out a narrow 5-4 victory over the Bulldogs when the two teams met in the regular season, helped by a pair of close 9-7 wins in doubles. This time around, it was Barton who enjoyed a 2-1 advantage after doubles, thanks to a pair of 8-5 wins by the No. 1 duo of Jake McCartney and Rafael Ruiz and the No. 3 tandem of Max Leppert and Nick Genest.
The win by Leppert and Genest came against the same NGU group of Sjors van Eck and Marcelo Yshikawa who had beaten them in the earlier loss. Genest also produced a more positive outcome in singles this time around, producing a key point with a win in the No. 4 slot over Jonathan Stanga, 6-1, 6-4.
In addition to their doubles win together, McCartney and Ruiz both provided singles victories as well. The freshman McCartney cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win at the No. 1 position, running his season record to 14-3. Ruiz, a sophomore, claimed his 11th singles victory of the season in the No. 2 slot, taking a 6-1, 6-4 win.
North Greenville's Sergio Araujo Filho was a part of both the Crusaders'points, and both came at the expense of Barton's Jorge Pradilla, who lost 8-3 at No. 2 doubles along with Yaxi Pintado and at No.5 singles, 6-1, 6-3. Two other matches were stopped once the match was decided, and both were close contests already into the third set.
The victory for Barton was its first in the tournament since 2009, when it also did so as a lower seed, winning as a No. 5 seed over No. 4 Mount Olive, 5-3. The Bulldogs will now attempt to upset King on Saturday and reach the championship match for the first time since 2007.
