by Doug Page
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College women's tennis team welcomed the Francis Marion University Patriots on Wednesday to the BC Tennis Complex for a non-conference matchup. The Patriots recorded a 9-0 victory against the Lady Bulldogs.
The No. 2 doubles tandem of junior Vanessa Sanoja and freshman Ada Vargas dropped an 8-3 decision for Barton (2-5) against Francis Marion's Sofia Henning and Anna Wintrich to give the Patriots (5-3) a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Patriots top duo of Marie Krueger and Elisa Lang, who entered as the 13th nationally-ranked doubles pair had a tough battle against BC's Daria Avram and Marissa Stevenson. Krueger and Lang would outlast Barton's top pair, 8-7 (4).
Entering singles play with a 3-0 lead, Magan Head would record a 6-1, 6-0 victory against BC junior Whitney Hamilton. Lang would follow by defeating Vargas 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 4 spot. Sanoja would fall 6-0, 6-1 at the No. 2 spot for the Lady Bulldogs against Henning.
Avram looked to make things interesting for Barton at the No. 1 spot as the Buzau, Romania native forced a third set against the 37th nationally-ranked singles player in Krueger. Avram won the first set against Krueger, 6-3 before dropping the second set, 6-2. Playing in a decisive third set, Krueger would prevail 10-7 to notch the victory.
Stevenson, a sophomore for the Lady Bulldogs won the opening set of her match at the No. 3 spot against Wintrich before dropping the second set 6-2 to send the match to a third set. Wintrich tallied a 10-7 score in the set to secure the victory.
Francis Marion would also record a pair of points by default in the match as the Lady Bulldogs found themselves short-handed.
Barton will hit the road for a pair of matches against Shaw and Bluefield State before returning home to host Mercyhurst on Mar. 8 and Edinboro on Mar. 10.
