TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (Feb. 13, 2025) – Winners of its last two matches, the ETSU women's tennis team will look to continue its winning ways this weekend with a pair of matches in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Bucs will match up with Alabama on Friday at 3 p.m. and then close out the road trip with a neutral site match against Minnesota on Saturday at 11 a.m.
 
ETSU notched its first two victories of the season last week as it edged out Appalachian State and Lipscomb by identical 4-3 scores. The Bucs battled back from early deficits to win both of those contests. Playing a key role in both of those matches was Alessandra Caceres. The sophomore from Chile went a perfect 4-0 (2-0 singles, 2-0 doubles) last week and was named the SoCon Player of the Week for the second time this season.
 
Alabama has rebounded from a 0-2 start to win three straight entering this weekend's action. The Crimson Tide lost to fellow SoCon school Furman to open their season in January, 4-3. Alabama has since defeated Arizona State, Tulane and Georgia Tech to climb back above the .500 mark.
 
Like Alabama, Minnesota has righted the ship after a slow start to its season. The Golden Gophers defeated Middle Tennessee State to open the 2025 campaign but dropped back-to-back matches to Florida Gulf Coast and FAU. Since then, however, Minnesota has won five straight against Air Force (4-0), Iowa State (4-3), Missouri (5-2), Colorado State (7-0), and St. Thomas (5-2) to boost its record to 6-2.
 
ETSU and Alabama have met just once previously and that was in 2019. The Crimson Tide notched a 6-1 win over the Bucs on that day. Saturday will mark the first ever meeting between ETSU and Minnesota. Furthermore, the Bucs have played just three matches against the current members of the Big Ten with two of those coming against Michigan State (2007, 2008) and the other coming against Oregon (2013).
 
For more information on Buccaneer women's tennis, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women's tennis tab.