Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Riverside, Calif. (March 8, 2006) - The ETSU women's tennis team continued their winning ways, defeating the University of California-Riverside, 5-2. The Lady Bucs are now 10-2 on the season while the Lady Highlanders fall to 3-9 with the loss.

Action began when Olya Batsula (Minsk, Belarus) and Tara Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) defeated Casey Cross and Erynne Oki, 8-5, in the No. 3 position. Then in No. 2 doubles Sandie Knight (Adamstown, Australia) and Masha Ilina (Kyiv, Ukraine) defeated H.R. Espiritu and Eri Yoshimoto, 8-4, while Sylwia Ziolkowska (Warsaw, Poland) and Elena Volobueva (Barcelona, Spain) defeated Yasaman Sakhakorn and Catrisha Cabanilla, 8-4 in the No. 1 slot.

The Lady Buccaneers again dominated the singles action, winning four of the six sets, with all of the victories coming in straight sets. In No. 4 singles Tara Byrne defeated Catrisha Cabanilla, 6-1, 6-3. Senior Sylwia Ziolkowska defeated Bethany Brendon, 6-1, 6-3 in No. 5 singles. In the No. 6 position, Vita Moskaliova (Minsk, Belarus) defeated Colette Chau, 6-2, 6-3. Senior Sandie Knight was defeated by H.R. Espiritu at the No. 3 position, 6-3, 6-1. In No. 2 singles, Olya Batsula defeated Yasaman Sakhakorn, 6-3, 6-4 and in No. 1 singles, junior Masha Ilina was defeated by Casey Cross after a hard fought battle, 5-7, 6-3, 10-8.

"It was good to get our first match in, good to get a win in our first match our here in California," said head coach Steve Brooks, "the weather was a lot different here, a lot more windy and balls are slower. We were challenged by ourselves more than anything, Riverside fought hard and they've got tough players. "

The ETSU women's tennis team will return to action tomorrow, March 9 against the University of California-Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, Calif. at 1:30 p.m.

ETSU 5, UCR 2
Singles

No. 1- Casey Cross (UCR) def. Masha Ilina (ETSU) 5-7, 6-3, 10-8
No. 2- Olya Batsula (ETSU) def. Yasaman Sakhakorn (UCR) 6-3, 6-4
No. 3- H.R. Espiritu (UCR) def. Sandie Knight (ETSU) 6-3, 6-1
No. 4- Tara Byrne (ETSU) def. Catrisha Cabanilla (UCR) 6-1, 6-3
No. 5- Sylwia Ziolkowska (ETSU) def. Bethany Brendon (UCR) 6-1, 6-3
No. 6- Vita Moskaliova (ETSU) def. Colette Chau (UCR) 6-2, 6-3

Doubles

No. 1- Batsula/Byrne (ETSU) def. Cross/Oki (UCR) 8-5
No. 2- Knight/Ilina (ETSU) def. Espiritu/Yoshimoto (UCR) 8-4
No. 3- Ziolkowska/Volobueva (ETSU) def. Sakhakorn/Cabanilla (UCR) 8-4