SPARTANBURG, S.C. (Sept. 13, 2008) - ETSU women's tennis junior Yevgeniya Stupak (Kyiv, Ukraine) continued to live up to her preseason ranking defeating, Anna Novo of USC Upstate, Friday, at the Spartans annual USC Upstate Fall Classic.

The 63^rd ranked Stupak, took top honors of bracket A, after she defeated the defending Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, in straight sets 6-1, 6-1. This revenged a loss in 2007 to Novo, as Stupak, who was playing injured at the time, dropped both sets 6-4, 6-3.

"Overall, it was a good weekend for our tennis team, said head coach Steve Brooks. "This was a big win for Yevgeniya today. Novo is a good tennis player, but I think when Yevgeniya is playing healthy she's hard to beat. This is exactly how she needed to start this fall season and hopefully she can continue to keep this momentum up as we head into next weekend."

Stupak wasn't the only Buc to shine Saturday, as freshman Paula Jamie (Madrid, Spain) picked up her first career win, coming-back to defeat Sara Brinkley of Western Carolina 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Fellow freshman Karina Kedzo (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) defeated Emila Milovanovic of USC Upstate 6-3, 6-0. Also in singles action, after dropping her semifinal match to Novo, senior Tara Byrne (Johnson City) rebounded winning the bracket A's third-place match, defeating Charleston Southern's Brook Pletcher, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

In doubles play, ETSU was just as strong, as the Bucs team of Byrne and Kedzo reached the finals defeating Upstate's Novo and Milovanovic, 8-6. ETSU teammates Stupak and Jamie would again prove to be too much for their opponents this weekend, defeating CSU's Schutte and Pletcher 8-1.

"Coming into this tournament one thing we tried to focus on is our doubles play," said Brooks. "Our girls did an outstanding job in playing hard and accomplishing what we wanted to prove over these past couple of days. This team showed that, as both our squad made the finals of the doubles bracket and that's a trend we are going to continue to work towards in practice and the remainder of this fall season."

The Bucs return to action next weekend as they host the 25^th annual ETSU Fall Collegiate Classic, in Johnson City.