BLACKSBURG, Va. (Oct. 5, 2007) - The ETSU women's tennis team wrapped up the opening day of the Virginia Tech Fall Invitational in fine fashion with two singles players advancing to the semifinal rounds while two doubles teams advanced to the quarterfinals. Action will continue Saturday with two rounds of doubles and one round of singles.

Competing in Flight A, sophomore Yevgeniya Stupak (Kyiv, Ukraine) breezed by her two opponents in straight sets. In the opening round she rolled over Winthrop's Yelena Fadina, 6-2, 6-2 before cruising past Paloma Escobedo of Ohio State, 6-0, 6-4 in the quarterfinal round. She will take on the winner of the match between No. 70 Vanessa Frankowski of Eastern Michigan and Jessica Long of Virginia Tech. 

Also competing in Flight A, Tara Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) fell to Christina Keesey, 7-6(9), 6-0. In consolation play she fell to Deanna Bailey of Elon in a close, 6-4, 6-4 match. She will face Sandra Wilkstrom of Eastern Michigan in consolation play on Saturday.

In Flight B, Olya Batsula (Belarus, Minsk) and Andra Voinea (Brasov, Romania) both fell in their first matches. Batsula fell to Allison Rauh of Davidson, 7-5, 6-0 before defeating Camilia Noldin of Radford, 6-1, 6-0 in consolation. Voinea fell to Ally Mueller of Ohio State, 6-2, 6-2 before cruising past Aleksandra Stankovic of Eastern Michigan, 6-3, 6-1.

Senior Elena Volobueva (Barcelona, Spain) defeated Jenn Tucci of Elon, 6-4, 6-3 before cruising past another former SoCon foe, Kim Whelan of Davidson, 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinal round of Flight C. She will take on Ohio State's Julie Blackmore in semifinal action at Noon on Saturday.

Competing in Flight D, Whitney Trotter (Guadalajara, Mexico) rolled by Barrett Donner of James Madison, 6-1, 6-1 before falling to Kassie Moore of Marshall in a hard-fought three set match, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Trotter will take on the loser of the match between Laura Graybill of Elon and Bethan James of Virginia Tech in consolation action.

Also competing in Flight D, Brittany Stewart (Brentwood, Tenn.) fell to Radford's Ashton Downs, 7-5, 6-0 before falling to Chelsea Cramp of host-school Virginia Tech in consolation, 6-2, 6-2. She will face Whitney Butcher of Elon in consolation action on Saturday.

In Flight E, Vita Moskaliova (Belarus, Minsk) had a first round bye before falling to Radford's Cassandra Price, 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. She will take on Sarah Ahmed of Virginia Tech in consolation.

In doubles action Batsula and Stupak teamed up to take on Virginia Berry and Kelsey Linville of Davidson in the Flight A bracket, dropping them, 8-4. They will face Holly Johnson and J.J. Larson of Virginia Tech on Saturday in quarterfinal action.

In the Flight B bracket, the duo of Trotter and Volobueva defeated Emma Czarnecki and Flavia Micati of Eastern Michigan, 8-5. They will take on James Madison's Kelly Maxwell and Kristin Nimitz in Saturday's quarterfinals.

Also competing in Flight B, Stewart and Voinea fell to Aditi Krishnan and Joanna Woo of Eastern Michigan, 8-2. They will face Camilia Noldin and Ivana Tomaic of Radford in consolation play on Saturday.

"It was a really long day of tennis but overall we won some matches and lost a few that we just let them slip away from us. On the good side we played doubles pretty well and we've got two in the semifinals of singles and two of the quarterfinals of doubles so that's real good." said head coach Steve Brooks. "Yevgeniya played well today and Elena got a win over an opponent from Davidson that she lost to a few years ago and we're just ready to get back out there and do it again tomorrow."

For all ETSU women's tennis news visit www.ETSUBucs.com.

Singles

Flight A

Yevgeniya Stupak (ETSU) def. Yelena Fadina (WU) 6-2, 6-2

Yevgeniya Stupak (ETSU) def. Paloma Escobedo (OSU) 6-0, 6-4

Christina Keesey (OSU) def. Tara Byrne (ETSU) 7-6(9), 6-0

Deanna Bailey (OSU) def. Tara Byrne (ETSU) 6-4, 6-4

Flight B

Ally Mueller (OSU) def. Andra Voinea (ETSU) 6-2, 6-2

Andra Voinea (ETSU) def. Aleksandra Stankovic (EMU) 6-3, 6-1

Allison Rauh (DC) def. Olya Batsula (ETSU) 7-5, 6-0

Olya Batsula (ETSU) def. Camilia Noldin (RU) 6-1, 6-0

Flight C

Elena Volobueva (ETSU) def. Jenn Tucci (Elon) 6-4, 6-3

Elena Volobueva (ETSU) def. Kim Whelan (DC) 6-1, 6-0

Flight D

Ashton Downs (RU) def. Brittany Stewart (ETSU) 7-5, 6-0

Chelsea Cramp (VT) def. Brittany Stewart (ETSU) 6-2, 6-2

Whitney Trotter (ETSU) def. Barrett Donner (JMU) 6-1, 6-1

Kassie Moore (MU) def. Whitney Trotter (ETSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2

Flight E

Cassandra Price (RU) def. Vita Moskaliova (ETSU) 6-3, 6-2

Doubles

Flight A

Batsula/Stupak (ETSU) def. Berry/Linville (DC) 8-4

Flight B

Trotter/Volobueva (ETSU) def. Czarnecki/Micati (EMU) 8-5