SPARTANBURG, S.C. (September 18, 2011) – The ETSU women’s tennis team picked up two tournament titles on Sunday, winning both the singles and doubles championships of the USC Upstate Invitational at the USC Upstate Tennis Complex.

Senior Karina Kedzo (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) defeated USC Aiken’s Manon Hermens (6-2, 6-1) in the women’s singles final, and junior Diana Navrostska (Lviv, Ukraine) teamed up with Kedzo to run through the doubles draw and defeat Wofford’s Juila Paulson and Othilia Lindqvist (8-1) in the final.

“I was very pleased with Karina getting the job done in this tournament,” said assistant coach Travis Sandlant. “We had a few opportunities slip this weekend, with a couple of players having the chance to go deeper in the tournament, and we panicked a little under pressure. Hopefully we have more of these chances next weekend so we can get more opportunities to test ourselves and improve.”

Kedzo, Navrostska and freshman Jessica Brumit (Elizabethton, Tenn.) all advanced to the quarterfinals of the singles draw, with Kedzo being the lone Buccaneer going through to the semis.

The tournament started on Friday with Giulia Andreazza (Balneario Camboriu, Brazil), Kedzo, Navrostska and Brumit all competing and winning their opening round matches in straight sets. Andreazza ousted the host team’s Tonani (6-3, 6-0) and Navorstska defeated Wofford’s Sullivan (6-1, 6-1) in the upper bracket. The lower bracket saw Brumit hand another Spartan an early exit, defeating Bell (6-4, 6-2), as Kedzo ran by Wofford’s DaSilva (6-3, 6-0).

In doubles action, Brumit and Andreazza defeated Tonani and Bell (8-5), while Kedzo and Navrostska won their match (8-1) over DaSilva and Hughes.

All four Bucs were then set to compete in their second round singles and doubles matches on Saturday.

After losing the first set to Presbyterian’s Oelke in Saturday’s morning session, Andreazza came back to force a third set but fell (1-6, 6-3, 0-6) in the tournament’s second round. The rest of the morning went well for the Bucs as Navrostska defeated Presbyterian’s Ransom (6-4, 6-0), Brumit pulled out a tough victory over Wofford’s Coventry (7-5, 2-6, 6-2) and Kedzo took care of Aiken’s Cediel (6-3, 6-3).

Having both been on the lower half of same bracket, Brumit and Kedzo matched up against each other on Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals. Having more collegiate playing experience, the senior Kedzo defeated the newcomer Brumit (6-3, 6-1) and played on to the semis. In the upper half, Navrostska suffered a defeat to Aiken’s Hermens (6-3, 6-3) to leave Kedzo to represent ETSU in the women’s semis.

ETSU’s two doubles teams each advanced to the semifinals with Saturday victories. Andreazza and Brumit defeated Wofford’s Schermerhorn and Sullivan (8-6), as Kedzo and Navrostska took out Hermens and Regel (8-1).

The tournament’s final day ended with ETSU bringing home two championships. Kedzo defeated Upstate’s Rojas (6-2, 6-1) before beating Hermens in the final to take home the singles title, and complete the tournament as the only female to not give up a single set. Andreazza and Brumit lost their semifinal doubles match to Paulson and Lindqvist, but Kedzo and Navrostska defeated Rojas and Van Stryk (8-3) to advance and take out Paulson and Lindqvist in the final.

“I think we can look back and say that Karina got the job done in this tournament,” added Sandlant. “She was the favorite to win in my eyes, but to actually do it is a testament to how hard she concentrated and performed this week.”

“We had a good weekend, but the tournaments are only going to get tougher. A few weeks from now we’ll go to Wake Forest, so we have to prepare for that.”

The ETSU women’s tennis team will travel to Winston-Salem, N.C. to compete in the Wake Forest Invitational on Friday, October 1 through Saturday, October 2.

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