Saturday, April 10, 2010

Asheville, N.C. (April 10, 2010) - Just a season ago it was former ETSU standout Tara Byrne breaking the school's all-time singles record against UNC Asheville, one year later current senior Yevgeniya Stupak (Kyiv, Ukraine) added to that trend, tying her former teammate at 107 career victories as the Lady Bucs dropped the Lady Bulldogs 6-1 at the Crown Tennis Plaza in Asheville, N.C.

Stupak, who has won nine out of her last ten contests, secured the mark early as singles play got underway as the senior captain made quick work of Leslie Smith 6-1, 6-0.

"I'm so happy for Yevgeniya," said head coach Steve Brooks. "Ever since she came here she has worked hard to be the best possible student-athlete she could be both on and off the court. Tara was a great player for us, so it speaks volume about Yevgeniya's career at ETSU, for her to come away with that many individual wins. Now that she's tied the mark hopefully Yevgeniya and our team can take this momentum and play well in the conference tournament next week."

ETSU (17-3) opened the action by sweeping all three doubles matches for the fast 1-0 lead.

After Stupak pushed the Lady Buc advantage to 2-0 with her win at No. 1 singles, junior Kelly Holtzhausen (Johannesburg, South Africa) added to the total with a strong 6-4, 6-3 win against Stephanie Schon.

Sophomore Paula Jaime (Madrid, Spain) then wrapped up the ETSU win with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory at the No. 3 position over Devon Cavenaugh.

Fellow classmate Karina Kedzo (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) then picked up her eight win this spring with a impressive 6-4, 6-1 triumph over Nicole Shon at the No. 4 singles slot.

Wrapping up the ETSU victories was junior Andra Voinea (Brasov, Romania) who ran her  dual match record to a team-best 18-2 record with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Sarah Brinkley.

UNC Asheville's lone win on the day came from Louise Bottomley who outlasted freshman Diana Navrotska (Kviv, Ukraine) in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

Now with its regular season closed ETSU returns to action next weekend as they open the 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament in DeLand, Fla.