Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Byrne, Kedzo and Jaime named to all-conference teams

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 15, 2009) - After being named the Atlantic Sun Conference Preseason Player of the Year more then four months ago, ETSU women's tennis junior Yevgeniya Stupak (Kyiv, Ukraine) did not disappoint as the now three-time A-Sun First-team member made it wire-to-wire sweeping her way to the 2009 A-Sun Women's Tennis Player of the Year award, the league announced Wednesday.  

After leading the Lady Bucs to an 8-1 A-Sun record and a share of its third regular season championship in school history, Stupak rolled to an impressive 27-5 singles mark, picking up wins against players from 16 ITA ranked teams. In addition to a remarkable 21-7 doubles record, Stupak was the highest ranked ITA player in the conference, despite playing the No. 1 singles position all spring for the Lady Bucs.

Joining Stupak on the first-team was fellow upperclassman Tara Byrne (Johnson City). The Tri-Cities native will leave ETSU as one of its most decorated players in school history. The two-year captain is now a four-time all-conference honoree after finishing the regular season with 24-10 singles record. In addition to the numerous awards Byrne has earned by the A-Sun, she will leave ETSU as its all-time winningest player in program history with 104 career victories.

Rounding out the awards for ETSU was freshmen Paula Jaime (Madrid, Spain) and Karina Kedzo (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela), who both earned spots on the All A-Sun Second-Team, in addition to being named to the all-freshman squad. Jaime had an impressive start to her ETSU career, leading the Lady Bucs in doubles wins, while sitting seventh among league players with 10 singles wins this spring. Overall, Jaime breezed past her competition in league action posting a perfect 7-0 record in No. 4 singles play.

Kedzo joins her teammate after winning 85 percent of her matches this spring in No. 3 singles, while trailing only teammate Stupak in A-Sun wins (8). Along with doubles partner Tara Byrne, the ETSU duo rolled to a 20-10 regular season record and a tie for the best winning percentage in No. 2 doubles (.889) among conference teams.

With Stupak winning the women's Player of the Year award and ETSU men's tennis senior Enrique Olivares winning the league's top honor on the men's side, the Bucs become the first school since Florida Atlantic in 2002 to sweep both awards. 

Attached above are the 2009 A-Sun All-Conference selections.

For more information on the ETSU women's tennis program please visit www.ETSUBucs.com