CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (April 18, 2026) – The No. 2 seed ETSU women's tennis team knocked off No. 1 seed Furman by a score of 4-1 on Saturday in the SoCon Tournament Championship match. The victory, which improved ETSU's record to 16-7 this season, clinches ETSU's fourth SoCon Tournament Title in its history and it punches the Bucs' ticket to the NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament.
"It was an amazing effort by our ladies," said ETSU Director of Tennis
Ricky Rojas. "I'm super proud of the way they represented themselves and ETSU. We were tough and resilient all weekend. Excited to go back to the NCAA Tournament. Go Bucs!"
ETSU seized momentum immediately on Saturday thanks to earning the doubles point. Furman briefly tied the match at 1-1 thanks to a win by Elle Warren in No. 2 singles. However,
Ksenija Rage (6-4, 7-5) put the Bucs out in front before
Mariangel Estrella (6-4, 6-4) and
Niyati Kukreti (7-5, 7-5) won both of their respective singles matches to seal the victory and championship for the Blue and Gold.
Estrella, who went a perfect 3-0 this week in Chattanooga, was named the SoCon Tournament's Most Outstanding Player afterward. Kukreti was awarded the Pinnacle Award, which is given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA on the championship-winning team. Kukreti is majoring in Kinesiology at ETSU and currently boasts a 4.0 GPA.
Saturday's full results can be found below.
Singles Competition
1.
Ksenija Rage (ETSU) def. Lillie Murphy (FUR) 6-4, 7-5
2. Elle Warren (FUR) def.
Alessandra Caceres (ETSU) 6-2, 6-1
3. Macy Hitchcock (FUR) vs.
Julia Millan (ETSU) 3-6, 6-4, 1-2, unfinished
4. Bianca Ceroni (FUR) vs.
Audelie Lesauvage (ETSU) 6-3, 3-6, 5-4, unfinished
5.
Mariangel Estrella (ETSU) def. Lily Doherty (FUR) 6-4, 6-4
6.
Niyati Kukreti (ETSU) def. Molly Robinson (FUR) 7-5, 7-5
Doubles Competition
1.
Mariangel Estrella/
Alessandra Caceres (ETSU) def. Elle Warren/Lillie Murphy (FUR) 6-4
2. Bianca Ceroni/Macy Hitchcock (FUR) def.
Ksenija Rage/
Julia Millan (ETSU) 6-1
3.
Niyati Kukreti/
Audelie Lesauvage (ETSU) def. Sasha Dimitrov/Molly Robinson (FUR) 7-5
The Bucs, who earned the SoCon's automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships, will learn their postseason fate on Monday, April 27, with an announcement on NCAA.com at 5:30 p.m.
For more information on Buccaneer women's tennis, visit
ETSUBucs.com and click on the women's tennis tab.
