ETSU picks up eight championships in fall opener

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (September 10, 2011) – The ETSU women’s tennis team opened the fall season on Friday and Saturday, putting on an impressive performance at the ETSU Invitational inside the Buddy Hartsell Tennis Center. The Bucs swept the competition, winning five singles and three doubles championships, to total eight titles on the weekend.

“This tournament was a great leadoff for the start of the year,” said assistant coach Travis Sandlant. “This will prepare us for tougher and stronger matches to come. It was great to see that the ladies came back into shape this year and I think they’re really ready to compete. It was also great to see Jess [Brumit] come through and win her first collegiate title in the singles draw, and doubles title with Giulia [Andreazza].”

Competing with ETSU were Carson-Newman, King College, Emmanuel College, Milligan College, Lincoln Memorial University and Tusculum College.

The A flight saw ETSU’s Paula Jaime (Madrid, Spain) and Marine Wieliczko (Rouen, France) advance to the finals, with Jaime winning a very competitive three set match (2-6, 6-4, 6-3).

Karina Kedzo (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) coasted through to the B flight finals and met with LMU’s Alexander Granger. Giving up just one game through a two-set victory Kedzo took home the B flight title (6-1, 6-0).

In the C flight finals, Diana Navrotska (Lviv, Ukraine) met with another LMU competitor in Courtney Conley, but Navrotska proved to be too much for Conley in another two-set victory (6-0, 6-1).

Giulia Andreazza (Balneario Camboriu, Brazil) competed in the D flight, advancing to meet Carson-Newman’s Mary Grace Burchfield in the finals. Andreazza won each set of the match (6-1, 6-2) to pull the ETSU win total to four.

The last of the singles draws in which ETSU competed was the E flight, where newcomer Jessica Brumit (Elizabethton, Tenn.) showcased her skills. Brumit rolled through to the finals and took out Tusculum’s Meagan Buckmaster (6-0, 6-1) to win the E flight and her first collegiate title.

The Bucs went on to win the A, B and C championships of the doubles flights, with Jaime and Kedzo winning the A flight, Navrotska and Wieliczko winning the B flight and Andreazza and Brumit pulling in the C flight.

The ETSU women’s tennis team will travel to Spartanburg, S.C. next weekend, September 16, to compete in the USC Upstate Invitational.

For more information on ETSU tennis please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the tennis links.