Saturday, November 11, 2006

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (November 11, 2006) - The Lady Bucs tennis team continued play Saturday at the Kitty Harrison Invitational at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center at the University of North Carolina.

Competing in the Blue singles Yevgeniya Stupak (Kyiv, Ukraine) defeated North Carolina's Sanaz Marand, 7-6, 0-6, 1-0(6) before falling to No. 74 Tarryn Rudman of Georgia Tech, 6-2, 6-0. She will take on Amanda McDowell of Georgia Tech on Sunday. Sophomore Olya Batsula (Minsk, Belarus) fell in round of 16 to Amanda McDowell of Georgia Tech, 6-2, 6-0.

Senior Masha Ilina (Kyiv, Ukraine) fell to No. 108 Joelle Schwenk of Kentucky in the first round of the Blue consolation action. She then defeated Davidson's Michele Fanney in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. She will face Magda Bresson of William and Mary on Sunday.

In the Carolina singles bracket Brittany Stewart (Brentwood, Tenn.) fell to Anna Volkova of Marshall, 6-0, 6-1 before falling to Princeton's Kristen Scott, 6-1, 6-1. She earned a fourth place finish.

Sophomore Tara Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) fell after a hard fought match in the White singles bracket to North Carolina's Meg Fanjoy, 7-5, 6-3 and then fell to Blakeley Ashley of Princeton, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0(11). She will take on Jessica Keener of Marshall on Sunday.

Competing in the White consolation bracket, Whitney Trotter (Guadalajara, Mexico) fell to Davidson's Meredith Skeeters, 6-4, 6-1. She will face Yulia Kashelkina of Marshall on Sunday.

In doubles Stupak and Ilina finished third place in the Blue doubles bracket as they won by default over Elizabeth Ardeva and Edina Horvath of Kansas.

The duo of Batsula and Byrne fell to Lynzee Kever and Jeanne Schwartz of Marshall, 9-8(3) while Trotter and Stewart fell to Davidson's Ali Gores and Emily Wilkinson, 8-6.

"Overall, it was not as good a day today. We still have a few matches tomorrow, but overall, it's been a good fall season," said head coach Steve Brooks. "We have things to be happy about and things to work on for the spring. The girls are looking forward to the preseason rankings to see if they will be ranked."

The Lady Bucs will conclude play in the Kitty Harrison Invitational tomorrow as they close out their fall tournament season. For all ETSU women's tennis news, visit www.etsubucs.com.