BLACKSBURG, Va. (Feb. 25, 2006) - The ETSU women's tennis team fell to Virginia Tech, 5-2 at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on Saturday. The Lady Bucs fall to 6-2 on the season while the Hokies improve to 5-2 on the year.

Virginia Tech started the day by winning all three doubles matches. Freshman Vita Moskaliova (Minsk, Belarus) and senior Sylwia Ziolkowska (Warsaw, Poland) fell at the No. 1 position to Anat Elazari and J.J. Larson, 8-2. The doubles point was then clinched when sophomore Olya Batsula (Minsk, Belarus) and freshman Tara Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) were defeated by Inga Beermann and Abbey Walker, 8-4. Junior Masha Ilina (Kyiv, Ukraine) and senior Sandie Knight (Adamstown, Australia) were also defeated in a close match, 8-7 with a tie-breaker.

In No. 1 singles, Masha Ilina was defeated by Inga Beermann, 6-0, 6-4 while Olya Batsula defeated Anat Elazari, 0-6, 6-3, 1-0 (6) in No. 2 singles. Senior Sandie Knight fell to Ashley James, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 1-0 (6).  A super tiebreaker was used to decide the third set of the final two matches once the dual match outcome had been determined. Tara Byrne was defeated in No. 4 singles by Jessica Long, 6-2, 6-4. In No. 5 singles, Sylwia Ziolkowska was defeated by J.J. Larson, 6-0, 6-4. In No. 6 singles, Vita Moskaliova picked up ETSU's second point defeating Jessica Brouwer, 6-3, 6-2.

"We can't take anything away from Virginia Tech, they played very good today, we just weren't on our strongest, just before the match we had a doctor look at Elena (Volobueva) and she has the flu, it's kind of tough when you lose your No. 1 player in singles and in doubles. We still had a chance, but everybody tried to step up a little bit more and we just overplayed" said Brooks.

The Buccaneers next match is scheduled for Friday, March 3 against conference opponent Campbell in Johnson City, Tenn. at 1 p.m.

Virginia Tech 5, ETSU 2

Singles

1. Inga Beermann (VT) def. Masha Ilina (ETSU) 6-0, 6-4
2. Olya Batsula (ETSU) def. Anat Elazari (VT) 0-6, 6-3, 1-0 (11)
3. Ashley James (VT) def. Sandie Knight (ETSU) 6-7 (6), 6-3, 1-0 (6)
4. Jessica Long (VT) def. Tara Byrne (ETSU) 6-2, 6-4
5. J.J. Larson (VT) def. Sylwia Ziolkowska (ETSU) 6-0, 6-4
6. Vita Moskaliova (ETSU) def. Jessica Brouwer (VT) 6-3, 6-2
Finishing Order:
5, 6, 1, 4*, 2, 3

Doubles
1. Elazari/Larson (VT) def. Moskaliova/Ziolkowska (ETSU) 8-2
2. Beermann/Abbey Walker (VT) def. Batsula/Byrne (ETSU) 8-4
3. A. James/Long (VT) def. Ilina/Knight (ETSU) 8-7 (7)

Finishing Order:
1, 2*, 3