Thursday, October 18, 2007

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Oct. 18, 2007) - The Lady Bucs tennis team wrapped up the first day of competition at the ITA Southeast Regional hosted by the University of North Carolina. Junior Tara Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) was the only member of the ETSU women's squad in Thursday's competition.

Byrne who was entered in the qualifying draw rolled over Ekin Zafir of Memphis, 6-1, 6-0 before falling to Laura Borza of College of Charleston, 6-3, 6-4.

Main Draw action will begin on Friday as sophomore Yevgeniya Stupak (Kyiv, Ukraine) will take on Alexandra Luc of Clemson in the first round.

Competing in doubles Stupak will team up with senior Olya Batsula (Minsk, Belarus). The duo is the ninth-seed in the draw and are the first doubles team in the history of the ETSU women's tennis program to ever earn a seeding at a regional tournament. They will face Lindsey Jones and Jo-Ann VanAerde of Louisville in the Round of 32.

"Tara played very well in her first match today but in the second match she just made too many errors on game points and let the match get away from her. She's been battling a little bit of a shoulder twinge but she played ok," said head coach Steve Brooks. "Olya is only playing doubles after having a root canal this week but we are very excited and proud that she and Yevgeniya are seeded in the doubles draw."

Stupak will take the court for her first match at 11:30 a.m. while the doubles will play at 5:30 p.m. For all ETSU women's tennis action visit www.ETSUBucs.com.

ITA Southeast Qualifying Singles Results

Round of 32 - Tara Byrne (ETSU) def. Ekin Zafir (Memphis) 6-1, 6-0

Round of 16 - Laura Borza (COC) def. Tara Byrne (ETSU) 6-3, 6-4