Dan Carr
Lindsborg News Record

The Bethany tennis team hosted Barton County Community College on Wednesday afternoon, October 24, at the Smoky Valley High School Dahlsten Tennis Complex.

The Bethany men's team came out strong and swept the top six spots, going 9-0 overall on the day. James Bragg played the number one position and fought off a tough challenge winning 6-2, 6-3 in a good battle. After the singles matches were over, the men swept all three doubles matches highlighted by the team of Nick Hebert and Marcelo Alecio winning 8-1. Shane Huggins, Michiel Van Den Bogaert and Alex Sandri all went 2-0 on the day.

Head Tennis Coach Vic Bateman says, "Our men are in for a very tough spring schedule including three Division One matches, so we will need to get ready in the off season for many tougher matches than the one today."

The Bethany women started the doubles matches and came out with a 2-1 record heading into singles play. The women split the singles matches 3-3. The last match on the court involed Kittey Edwards and it came down to a third set to decide it. Unfortunately for the Swedes, they lost that tight third set after being up an early break of serve. Barton came away with 4-5 victory.

Bateman adds, "I think the match was good for our teams to get some work in and see where we are at. Our women played well but it shows we need to practice a little bit harder in order to turn those matches into wins. Our effort in the match was great and that is the main thing. We had four freshmen in the lineup who all showed they have what it takes to play at the college level."

These matches will not count in the regular season record for the Swedes as they were against a two-year community college program and were played as a scrimmage.