Sunday, March 20, 2005

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. (Mar. 20, 2005) - Buccaneer women's tennis won all nine matches against Gardner-Webb on Sunday afternoon for a 7-0 final. East Tennessee State improves to 13-4 overall and are 4-1 in the SoCon, while Gardner-Webb drops to 1-16.

                "I was very happy with how everyone played," stated Head Coach Steve Brooks. "We were solid at every match and did what we were supposed to do."

                The Bucs secured the doubles point with wins from freshman Elena Volobueva (Barcelona, Spain) and Muriel Sherwood (Atlanta, Ga.) playing No. 3 and Sylwia Ziolkowska (Warsaw, Poland) and Masha Ilina's (Kyiv, Ukraine) at No. 1. At the No. 2 slot, Olya Batsula (Minsk, Belarus) and Gemma Halim (Jakarta, Indonesia) added another win.

                In singles, solid play continued for ETSU as five of the six matches were decided in straight sets. Volobueva at No. 3 for the Bucs brought in the clinching point with her 6-1, 6-0 victory over Monica Walser.

                Women's tennis will now enjoy a much-deserved break to rest and regroup before the final stretch of matches beginning on Tuesday, March 29 at Tennessee Tech.

East Tennessee State 7, Gardner-Webb 0

Doubles

1. Ilina/Ziolkowska (ETSU) d. Dejong/Hoeffner (GW) 8-4

2. Batsula/Halim (ETSU) d. Pancia/Walser (GW) 8-3

3. Sherwood/Volobueva (ETSU) d.  Sigmon/Zirnheld (GW) 8-1

Order of Finish:  3,1,2

Singles

1. Masha Ilina (ETSU) d. Melissa Dejong (GW) 6-1, 6-1

2. Sylwia Ziolkowska (ETSU) d. Molly Hoeffner (GW) 6-0, 6-1

3. Elena Volobueva (ETSU) d. Monica Walser (GW) 6-1, 6-0

4. Olya Batsula (ETSU) d. Sara Zirnheld (GW) 6-3, 6-1

5. Muriel Sherwood (ETSU) d.  Carol Pancia (GW) 5-7, 6-4, 10-8

6. Gemma Halim (ETSU) d. Krystina Sigmon (GW) 6-2, 6-1

Order of Finish: 2,1,3*,4,6,5