by Doug Page
WILSON, N.C. – After dropping a pair of doubles matches, the Barton College Bulldogs rallied to win five singles matches and record their second-straight victory in Conference Carolinas women's tennis action against Converse College, 6-3, on Saturday at the BC Tennis Complex.
Barton (7-8, 3-1) clinched the match against the Valkyries with a win from freshman Ada Vargas at the No. 4 singles position. Converse (6-8, 2-4) would tally just one win in singles play after recording victories in the top two doubles matches.
Claudia Capellades and Whitney Hamilton would give Barton a 1-0 lead in the match with an 8-2 victory against Morgan Hildebrandt and Abby Roth. The Valkyries responded by handing BC an 8-6 loss at the No. 2 position as Alex Schlesener and Taylor Parrott defeated Vanessa Sanoja and Vargas.
The top doubles matchup would require a tie-breaker as Converse's Steffi Kong and Kaitlin Knight recorded an 8-7 (5) victory against Daria Avram and Marissa Stevenson.
BC quickly tied the match at 2-2 as Stevenson recorded a 6-0, 6-0 win at the No. 3 position of singles play. Hamilton followed suit for the Bulldogs with a 6-0, 6-0 win of her own. Sanoja would give Barton a 4-2 lead in the match as she defeated Parrott 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 2 spot.
Vargas would secure the match for Barton at the No. 4 position as she held on for a 6-4, 6-4 win against Schlesener. Converse would get their only point of singles play from Hildebrandt, who defeated Capellades 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 5 position. Avram tallied the last point for BC by defeating Kong at the No. 1 spot, 7-5, 7-5.
The Bulldogs return to action on April 3 as BC heads to Mount Olive, N.C. for a league matchup against the University of Mount Olive. The match is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
