by Doug Page
DUE WEST, S.C. – The Barton College men's tennis team tallied its second straight victory on Friday as the Bulldogs opened Conference Carolinas play with an 8-1 win on the road against Erskine College.
Barton (3-6, 1-0) swept through doubles action against the Flying Fleet and won five of the six singles matchups. The Bulldogs pushed their winning streak to two matches as BC heads to Emmanuel College for another league matchup on Saturday.
The Bulldogs started the match by recording an 8-0 decision at the No. 3 spot of doubles-play as Ermanno Galimberti and Martijn Eleveld defeated Erskine's tandem of Isaac Giddens and Liam Buckley.
The No. 1 duo of Rory Gaydon and Oscar Marmestedt would up BC's advantage to 2-0 as they bested Steven Zahui and Ross Edgar 8-4.
Jesus Gil and Diego Agudelo outlasted the tandem of Ritwik Bhriguvanshi and Ary Boltansky 8-5 at the No. 2 spot to give Barton a 3-0 edge heading into singles competition.
Galimberti increased the Bulldogs' lead to 4-0 with 6-0, 6-0 win at the No. 6 spot against Erskine's Isaac Giddens. Marmestedt followed for BC by dropping a 6-0, 6-1 decision at the No. 2 position against Bhriguvanshi.
Barton clinched the match as Gerbino won his matchup at the No. 5 spot as Buckley was forced to retire for the Flying Fleet while trailing 5-1. Gaydon recorded a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the top singles spot for the Bulldogs against Zahui, while Gil outlasted Erskine's Boltansky 6-1, 7-6 (7) to give BC a 7-1 lead in the match.
Agudelo notched the final point of the match for Barton at the No. 3 position by tallying a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Erskine's Edgar.
Barton heads to Franklin Springs, Ga. for a league contest against Emmanuel College on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. The Bulldogs return home to host league member Belmont Abbey on March 21 at 2 p.m.
