by Benny Benton
RALEIGH, N.C. – Barton College junior Smiljana Kljajic earned victories in both singles and doubles, but the Lady Bulldogs could not overcome the forfeit of three matches due to a lack of healthy players in losing to Meredith College, 6-3, Saturday afternoon.
Kljajic and Alicia Lasry partnered at No. 1 doubles to defeat the Avenging Angels tandem of Catherine Bryant and Caroline Hunt, 8-3. Junior transfer Lorraine Chon-Qui was cleared to play doubles for the first time this spring, and teamed with Dana Kelly to claim an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles over Ran Zhang and Cailin Goff.
However, Chon-Qui has not been given the go-ahead yet for singles play, and Barton (0-4) sent just four players into that portion of the match, forfeiting both No. 5 and No. 6 singles in addition to the No. 3 doubles slot.
Kljajic took a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Zhang at the top spot, but Meredith (1-1) took the other three singles matches. Hunt defeated Kelly at the No. 3 spot, 6-3, 6-1, and Goff blanked Casey Utley, who was playing all the up in the No. 4 spot, 6-0, 6-0. BC's Alicia Lasry forced her match with Bryant at No. 2 to a third set, but Bryant won a super-set tiebreaker 10-4.
Barton will begin Conference Carolinas play on Friday when it hosts defending league champion Erskine in a 2 p.m. match at the Barton Tennis Complex.
