Sunday, September 24, 2006

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (September 24, 2006) - The ETSU women's tennis team wrapped up play Sunday in the Deacon Classic. The three-day tournament hosted by Wake Forest University fielded teams from seven different schools.

In the Flight A championship match, Yevgeniya Stupak (Kyiv, Ukraine) earned a second place finish as she fell to No. 32 Alex Hirsch of host school Wake Forest, 7-6, 6-4.

"It would have been good for us to pick up the win in the Flight A," said head coach Steve Brooks. "Yevgeniya, was up 7-5, but just couldn't close it out. Hirsch is just a very good player."

Competing in Flight B singles, senior Masha Ilina (Kyiv, Ukraine) defeated Koren Fleming of Charlotte, 6-0, 6-3, while sophomore Tara Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) fell after a hard-fought match to Kasia Zawadzki of Syracuse, 2-6, 6-2 (9).

In Flight C junior Elena Volobueva (Barcelona, Spain) fell to Kansas's Edina Horvath, 6-4, 6-1.

Whitney Trotter (Guadalajara, Mexico) finished third in the Flight D bracket after falling to Carolina Huignard of Syracuse, 6-2, 6-0, while Brittany Stewart (Brentwood, Tenn.) finished in eighth place after being defeated by Ohio State's Sara Kinning, 6-3, 4-6 (10).

"Overall it was a very good tournament. We're very beat up right now after playing two consecutive weekends of tournaments," added Brooks. "Right now we're looking forward to coming home and resting up and getting back into shape."

The Lady Bucs will take the next two weeks off before continuing fall tournament action at the ITA Southeast Regional hosted by UNC in Chapel Hill N.C. October 12-16.