Thursday, April 22, 2004

CHARLESTON, SC (April 22, 2004) - Sixth-seeded East Tennessee State defeated eleven-seeded Western Carolina 4-0 in the first round of the 2004 Southern Conference Women's Tennis Championships. The Bucs improve to 17-12 with the Catamounts falling to 5-15. ETSU took an early lead in the match by winning the doubles point. At #1 doubles, the tandem of Sylwia Ziolkowska (Warsaw, Poland) and Mariya Ilyina (Kyiv, Ukraine) knocked off Western Carolina's Racio Perez and Erin Johnson, 8-5. ETSU's Gemma Halim (Jakarta, Indonesia) and Jessica Irey (Clewiston, Fla.) downed Western Carolina's Kristin Cotton and Katie VanEwyk, 8-3. The Bucs completed the sweep of the doubles point as Courtney McInnis (Waterboro, Maine) and Aimee Villavicencio (Lexington, Ky.) defeated the Catamounts' pair of Kristin Munn and Elysa Montgomery, 8-4. In singles action, Ziolkowska topped Munn at No.2 singles 6-2, 6-3 with Halim downing Johnson, 6-1, 6-0. ETSU's closed out the match as Jewel Aldea (Charleston, S.C.) swept Elysa Montgomery, 6-0, 6-0. "We played clean and efficient today," stated head coach Steve Brooks. "We will need the energy tomorrow when we face Davidson." East Tennessee State will take on third-seeded Davidson at 12:30 pm on Friday, April 23 at the Farmfield Tennis Center in Charleston, SC. East Tennessee State 4, Western Carolina 0 Singles 1. Courtney McInnis (ETSU) vs. Racio Perez (WCU), DNF 2. Sylwia Ziolkowska (ETSU) def. Kristin Munn (WCU), 6-2, 6-3 3. Gemma Halim (ETSU) def. Erin Johnson (WCU), 6-1, 6-0 4. Jessica Irey (ETSU) vs. Kristin Cotton (WCU), DNF 5. Mariya Ilyina (ETSU) vs. Katie VanEwyk (WCU), DNF 6. Jewel Aldea (ETSU) def. Elysa Montgomery (WCU), 6-0, 6-0 Doubles 1. Ziolkowska/Ilyina (ETSU) def. Perez/Johnson (WCU), 8-5 2. Halim/Irey (ETSU) def. Cotton/VanEwyk (WCU), 8-3 3. McInnis/Villavicencio def. Munn/Montgomery (WCU), 8-4