JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 7, 2009) - Playing in its second home Atlantic Sun Conference match for the second straight day the ETSU women's tennis team breezed past league foe Belmont 6-1, Saturday at the Buddy Hartsell Tennis Center in Johnson City, Tenn. With the win ETSU improves to 3-3 overall and 2-0 in A-Sun play, while Belmont falls to 5-4 overall, with a 0-2 A-Sun mark.

"It was good to get our second win in conference today," said head coach Steve Brooks. "Our girls continued to play well and really stepped up and gave great effort against a talented team in Belmont. I was proud to see Yevgeniya and Tara both handle their matches like they did and even though Vita lost I'm still proud of how she battled throughout the contest."

The Lady Bucs opened the match by winning all three doubles points taking the early 1-0 lead.

ETSU followed that up as junior Yevgeniya Stupak (Kyiv, Ukraine) make quick work of Belmont's Whitnie Warren 6-1, 6-0 in No. 1 singles action, while senior Tara Byrne (Johnson City) picked up a her second straight singles win dropping Tatiana Pozo 6-1, 6-2 in No. 2 singles play.

The Lady Bucs continued to roll as the match went on winning three consecutive singles matches on court two as both freshman Karina Kedzo (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) and sophomore Tara Sheets (Gate City, Va.) picked up match clinching wins in No. 5 and No. 6 singles action dropping the Belmont's Lindsay Bennett and Lauren Irick in straight sets. Freshman Paula Jamie (Madrid, Spain) continued her outstanding play this spring dropping Abigail Hogan, 6-4, 6-2.

Unfortunately, for the Lady Bucs senior Vita Moskaliova (Minsk, Belarus) fell in a heartbreaking three-set contest to Abby Leatherwood. After winning the first set the ETSU senior could not hold the lead as Belmont's Leatherwood rallied 6-2 in the second fame. As both players battled back and forth in the third-set tiebreaker Leatherwood outlasted the Moskaliova 11-9. The loss marked only the fifth defeat ever in the four-year senior's A-Sun career.

ETSU returns to action as the Lady Bucs travel west to Flagstaff, Ariz., this week for a pair of matches.

For more information on women's tennis please visit  www.ETSUBucs.com.