Friday, March 23, 2012

Bucs extend home winning streak to 22

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 23, 2012) – The ETSU women’s tennis team maintained its perfect home record with a 6-1 defeat of Stetson on Friday night in Atlantic Sun action at the Bristol Racquet Club.

Precipitation in the Johnson City, Tenn., area forced the match to be moved 25 miles north to the friendly indoor confines of the Bristol Racquet Club, where ETSU (5-7, 2-1 A-Sun) is now 2-0 this season having also defeated Radford 4-3 on Jan. 28. The Bucs are now a combined 4-0 between the Bristol Racquet Club and Buddy Hartsell Tennis Center this year, extending their home winning streak to 22 dating back to March 27, 2009.

Stetson (8-2, 2-1 A-Sun) suffered its first defeat of the conference season and witnessed its six-match winning streak come to an end. The Hatters only other loss of the season came on Feb. 13 at South Carolina State, 5-2.

“What a battle it was tonight,” ETSU assistant coach Travis Sandlant said. “It was great to see such an elevated work ethic and willingness to not leave any regrets on the court.

“Stetson threw everything at us and the team responded exceptionally well. If we carry the same attitude into tomorrow we should come out on top once more.”

ETSU started the evening with its fifth doubles sweep of the season. Seniors Paula Jaime (Madrid, Spain) and Marine Wieliczko (Rouen, France) teamed up at No. 1 doubles for the fifth time this spring and improved their team doubles record to 4-1 with an 8-2 defeat of Sara Lazarevic and Clarke Tatje. Seniors Karina Kedzo (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) and Diana Navrostska (Lviv, Ukraine) teamed up for the first time this spring and took the No. 2 match 8-6 over Diana Bukajeva and Jen Miller, while sophomore Giulia Andreazza (Balneario Camboriu, Brazil) and Jessica Brumit (Elizabethton, Tenn.) squeaked out an 8-7 (11-9) win at No. 3 against Lindsey Cable and Shannon Gunning.

The Bucs continued to pick apart Stetson in singles action by taking five of the six points. Jaime won her team-leading 18th match of the year with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Lazarevic at No. 1, joining Kedzo, Navrostska and Brumit as the four Buccaneers to handle their victories in straight sets. Wieliczko was taken the distance at No. 3, but put together a strong final set in a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 win over Gunning.

The ETSU women’s tennis team continues A-Sun play at home on Saturday when it hosts Florida Gulf Coast at the Buddy Harsell Tennis Center. First serve is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

For more information on ETSU tennis, please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the tennis links.