Saturday, September 16, 2006

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (September 16, 2006) - Action continued today in the St. Mary's Classic as the ETSU women's tennis team entered into the second day of competition winning two of their singles matches and placing second in their third flight doubles bracket.

In the flight three singles bracket, newcomer Yevgeniya Stupak (Kyiv, Ukraine) picked up her first collegiate win defeating Anna Dzeva of Purdue, 6-2, 6-3. She will face Alexandra Guerra of N.C. State on Sunday.

Meanwhile in flight six singles, sophomore Vita Moskaliova (Minsk, Belarus) cruised to an easy win defeating Lauren Barry of N.C. State, 6-2, 6-1. Moskaliova will square off against Allison Barry also of N.C. State in Sunday's final consolation round.

Also competing for the Lady Bucs, Olya Batsula (Minsk, Belarus) fell in a hard-fought match to No. 35 Kim Coventry, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1, in flight one singles. In tomorrow's consolation play Batsula will face her third nationally ranked opponent of the weekend in No. 59 Monica Dancevic of Georgia.

Competing in flight two singles, Masha Ilina fell to Cigdem Duru of Purdue, 6-3, 6-2, while sophomore Tara Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) fell to Berkeley Brock of N.C. State, 6-1, 6-1. Ilina will face Julia Roach of N.C. State on Sunday, while Byrne will take on Conner Vogel of Tennessee.

In the semifinals of the flight five bracket, junior Elena Volobueva (Barcelona, Spain) fell to Adrienne Ellsberry of Georgia after a hard fought match, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Volobueva will square off against Whitney Spencer of Kentucky.

In doubles action, the team of Volobueva and Moskaliova fell in the final round to Samantha Orlin and Ghizela Schutte of Tennessee, 8-2 to finish second in the flight three doubles bracket. In flight one doubles, Batsula and Byrne fell 8-6 to Alexandra Guerra and Berkeley Brock of N.C. State, while Ilina and Stupak fell in the flight two doubles bracket to Cigdem Duru and Anna Dzeva of Purdue, 8-4. Both teams finished eighth in their respective flights.

"We just made too many mistakes today and couldn't close out our matches," said head coach Steve Brooks. "We are looking forward to tomorrow's matches and looking to be more competitive. But whatever happens, we will be able to use this for our next tournament."

The Lady Bucs will close out the St. Mary's Classic on Sunday with the final round of singles action. Following the weekend's action, ETSU will travel to Winston-Salem, N.C. to participate in the Deacon Classic hosted by Wake Forest.