Sunday, April 02, 2006

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 2, 2006) - The ETSU women's tennis team recorded their 11th 7-0 sweep of the season, defeating former conference opponent College of Charleston Sunday afternoon. The Lady Bucs improve to 19-4 on the season, while the Lady Cougars fall to 10-9.

In doubles action, the Lady Bucs came out swinging as they swept the Lady Cougars in all three matches. In the No. 2 position, Olya Batsula (Minsk, Belarus) and Tara Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) started the morning off by defeating Jenna Marks and Amanda Becker, 8-2, while Sandie Knight (Adamstown, Australia) and Elena Volobueva (Barcelona, Spain) defeated Ashley Finnegan and Jessica Tuckman, 8-2 to clench the doubles point in the No. 3 position. The doubles team of Masha Ilina (Kyiv, Ukraine) and Sylwia Ziolkowska (Warsaw, Poland) completed the sweep, defeating Chelsea Albertz and Payten Ellington, 8-5 in the No. 1 position.

After winning the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead, the Lady Bucs again dominated College of Charleston winning all six of the matches in straight sets. In the No. 1 position, junior Masha Ilina defeated Chelsea Albertz, 7-5, 6-0, while sophomore Olya Batsula defeated Amanda Becker, 6-3, 6-2, in the No. 2 position. Sandie Knight defeated Ashley Finnegan in the No. 3 position, 6-1, 6-2. Sophomore Elena Volobueva defeated Payten Ellington, 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 4 slot while Tara Byrne defeated Jenna Marks, 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 5 position. In the No. 6 singles position, Sylwia Ziolkowska defeated Kelsey Darnell, 6-3, 6-1

Senior Sandie Knight (28-9) is now one win away from breaking the school record of a 28-win season. She is currently tied with former Lady Buc, Kristy Pace-Wagner and current ETSU player, Masha Ilina.

The ETSU women's tennis team's next match will be Saturday, April 8, against UNC-Greensboro, to close out the regular season before heading to Macon, Ga. for the A-Sun conference tournament. The match will start at 1:00 p.m.

ETSU 7, CoC 0

Singles

No. 1- Masha Ilina (ETSU) def. Chelsea Albertz (CoC) 7-5, 6-0
No. 2- Olya Batsula (ETSU) def. Amanda Becker (CoC) 6-3, 6-2
No. 3- Sandie Knight (ETSU) def. Ashley Finnegan (CoC) 6-1, 6-1
No. 4- Elena Volobueva (ETSU) def. Payten Ellington (CoC) 6-1, 6-2
No. 5- Tara Byrne (ETSU) def. Jenna Marks (CoC) 6-1, 6-0
No. 6- Sylwia Ziolkowska (ETSU) def. Kelsey Darnell (CoC) 6-3, 6-1

Doubles

No. 1- Ziolkowska/Ilina (ETSU) def. Albertz/Ellington (CoC) 8-5
No. 2- Byrne/Batsula (ETSU) def. Marks/Becker (CoC) 8-2
No. 3- Knight/Volobueva (ETSU) def. Finnegan/Tuckman (CoC) 8-2

Finishing Order- 2, 3*, 1