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The top player in the ConfCarolinas led his country to a deep run at an international beach volleyball tournament
Barton opposite Angelos Mandilaris representing Greece along with his partner Stylianos Tzioumakas advanced to the Round of 16 during the weekend at the CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championships in Turkey.
The Greek duo playing in the third-longest match of the tournament’s knock-out stage defeated Spain’s Francisco Duque Grijalvo and Pablo Pérez Suárez 22-20, 20-22, 15-7 in the Round of 24 on Saturday. Mandilaris and Tzioumakas’ run at a medal finish, though, ended later that day with a 21-19, 21-9 loss to Russia’s Alexey Gusev and Pavel Shustrov, the tournament’s eventual gold medalists, in the Round of 16.
Mandilaris and Tzioumakas finished the annual European event at 2-3. The team qualified for the Round of 24 following a third-place finish in Pool H that included a sweep against the host nation Turkey.
Greece entered this tournament at No. 27 in the U22 European Beach Men’s Volleyball Rankings.
Mandilaris was selected to play in this tournament after leading Barton to the NCAA Tournament. He finished the 2019 season second in the NCAA with a 4.40 kills per game average on a .355 attack percentage as he was named the ConfCarolinas Offensive Player of the Year.
The opposite will return for his senior in 2020 and will attempt to lead the Bulldogs to their third ConfCarolinas championship in the last four years.