by Doug Page
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College women's tennis team saw its three-match winning streak come to an end on Thursday as the Chowan University Hawks recorded a 7-2 victory at the BC Tennis Complex in Conference Carolinas action.
Barton (8-9, 4-2) took a 1-0 lead in the match as it started doubles play with a win at the No. 1 position but would drop each of the next two matches. Chowan (13-3, 7-0) pushed its winning streak to nine straight matches as a victory at the top spot in singles play secured the win for the Hawks.
Junior Daria Avram and sophomore Marissa Stevenson tallied a convincing 8-4 victory at the No. 1 doubles position for the Bulldogs. Avram and Stevenson bested the duo of Polina Novachuk and Cynthia Carrier, who entered the match as the nationally-ranked No. 33 doubles pair for Chowan.
The Hawks knotted the match 1-1 with a win at the No. 3 position as Angelique Gouin and Lenka Styblova defeated freshman Claudia Capellades and junior Whitney Hamilton 8-3. Chowan and Barton battled at the No. 2 position to see who would take a 2-1 advantage into singles competition. Victoria Smolchenkova and Hanna Tarlouskaya would hold on for an 8-6 victory against junior Vanessa Sanoja and freshman Ada Vargas.
Styblova upped the Chowan lead to 3-1 in singles play as she tallied a 6-0, 6-1 victory against Capellades at the No. 5 position. Barton would trim the deficit to 3-2 as Stevenson continued her strong play for the Bulldogs by defeating Tarlouskaya 6-0, 6-1 at the No. 3 position. With the win, Stevenson has won each of her last eight singles matches dating back to Mar. 8.
Following a win at the No. 4 position to increase the lead to 4-2, Novachuk secured the match for the Hawks with a 6-3, 6-4 victory at the No. 1 position against Avram. Chowan would close the match by tallying victories at the No. 2 and No. 6 position and complete the 7-2 victory against the Bulldogs.
Barton hits the road this weekend for a pair of league matches against King and Lees-McRae. The Bulldogs then close the regular season with three matches at home beginning on April 11 against Belmont Abbey.
