Tuesday, March 27, 2007

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. (March 27, 2007) - The ETSU women's tennis team swept their third straight opponent as they blanked the Gardner Webb Lady Bulldogs, 7-0, on Tuesday. The Lady Bucs improve to 10-9 on the season and 4-1 in conference play, while Gardner Webb falls to 8-11, 3-6.  

The Lady Bucs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as they swept the doubles. In the No. 2 position, Elena Volobueva (Barcelona, Spain) and Yevgeniya Stupak (Kyiv, Ukraine) breezed by Jenny Gomez and Monica Walser, 8-2. In the No. 3 position Tara Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Vita Moskaliova (Minsk, Belarus) dropped Kasey Ellis and Carol Pancia, 8-6, while Masha Ilina (Kyiv, Ukraine) and Olya Batsula (Minsk, Belarus) defeated Laura Kriett and Amy Beavers, 8-6.

ETSU continued its domination as Batsula defeated Jenny Gomez, 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 3 position, while Ilina earned her 97th career victory over Kasey Ellis in the second position, 6-1, 6-0. Sophomore Tara Byrne clinched the match for the Lady Bucs as she cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Monica Walser in the No. 4 slot.

In the No. 6 position, Moskaliova defeated Carol Pancia, 6-3, 7-5, while Stupak took care of business over Laura Kriett, 6-0, 6-4 in the first position. Volobueva completed the sweep for ETSU as she defeated Amy Beavers, 7-6(4), 6-1.

"Gardner Webb has really improved since last season, they fought hard and I'm glad that we won today and that we played pretty well, said head coach Steve Brooks". All of the matches were tough, but we did what we had to do. It was tough, but it was just a good match today and we are looking forward to a couple of good matches this weekend."

The Lady Bucs will travel to the Music City to face Belmont and Lipscomb on Saturday March 31. The match against Belmont is set to begin at 10 a.m. with the Lipscomb match to start at 3 p.m. Follow all ETSU women's tennis action at www.etsubucs.com.

ETSU 7, GWU 0

Singles

No. 1- Yevgeniya Stupak (ETSU) def. Laura Kriett (GWU) 6-0, 6-4

No. 2- Masha Ilina (ETSU) def. Kasey Ellis (GWU) 6-1, 6-0

No. 3- Olya Batsula (ETSU) def. Jenny Gomez (GWU) 6-1, 6-0

No. 4- Tara Byrne (ETSU) def. Monica Walser (GWU) 6-4, 6-1

No. 5- Elena Volobueva (ETSU) def. Amy Beavers (GWU) 7-6 (4), 6-1

No. 6- Vita Moskaliova (ETSU) def. Carol Pancia (GWU) 6-3, 7-5

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

* - clenching match

Doubles

No. 1- Ilina/Batsula (ETSU) def. Kriett/Beavers (GWU) 8-6

No. 2- Stupak/Volobueva (ETSU) def. Gomez/Walser (GWU) 8-2

No. 3- Byrne/Moskaliova (ETSU) def. Ellis/Pancia (GWU) 8-6

Order of Finish- 2,3,1