Women’s Tennis completes day one with successful outing

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (September 30, 2011) – The ETSU women’s tennis team had a very successful opening round on Friday at the Wake Forest Invitational, as Paula Jaime (Madrid, Spain), Karina Kedzo (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela), Giulia Andreazza (Balneario, Camboriu) and Jessica Brumit (Elizabethton, Tenn.) all advanced to second-round play.

The doubles pairs of Kedzo and Jaime as well as Andreazza and Brumit  advanced through two rounds, and will begin semifinal action of their respective draws tomorrow.

“Overall it was a solid day,” said director of ETSU tennis Yaser Zaatini. “Paula has been under the weather physically and still fought a tough match to come back from a set down. Karina played extremely solid and without many flaws. She played a lot of high-percentage tennis and that’s what we need from her. We also had a great showing from Jessica, who won a very convincing match, and Giulia played solid all the way through.”

Competing in the A singles draw, Jaime rallied after dropping her opening set to defeat Virginia Tech’s Shannon Betts (3-6, 6-0, 6-3). The senior will now face the flight’s No. 2 seed, Kayla Duncan, from Wake Forest. Duncan took out Davidson’s Stephani Synn (6-2, 7-5) in her first round.

Kedzo opened up against Frida Jansacker from Elon, winning in a convincing fashion (6-2, 6-1) to advance through to flight C’s quarterfinals. Like Jamie, Kedzo will also take on her draw’s No. 2 seed, as Kristina Koprcina of Marshall got more than she bargained for, but still defeated Radford’s Hannah Crawford (6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (0)).

Andreazza stared down a BIG EAST opponent in Catie Wickline from West Virginia, and defeated the Mountaineer (6-3, 6-1) in the singles E bracket. The sophomore now looks forward to her flight’s No. 2 seed, taking on Marshall’s Ellie Ball after Ball defeated Davidson’s Katherine Dicconson today (6-4, 6-1).

The local talent, Brumit, played in the F singles draw, and was successful against Radford’s Sara Tegner (6-2, 6-2) to join Jaime, Kedzo, and Andreazza in Saturday’s quarterfinal action. Brumit will take on Wake Forest’s Brigita Bercyte, as Bercyte defeated Richmond’s Nil Horoz (6-1, 6-3).

Senior Marine Wieliczko (Rouen, France) and junior Diana Navrostska (Lviv, Ukraine) played hard but fell in their respective flights. Wieliczko ran into Virginia Commonwealth’s Daria Yakavleve (6-0, 6-1) and Navrostska fell to Winthrop’s Giovanna Portioli (6-2, 6-4).

“Diana, although losing, really had a great performance,” commented Zaatini. “Not so much as for who she played or how she played, but just her effort. If she’s not playing great tennis, then she’s still competing well. If she stays in the match and finds her game, then I think she’ll be very productive for us.”

The Bucs A doubles team is also still alive after day one, as Kedzo and Jaime defeated Wake Forest’s Duncan and Cutillo (8-4), before taking out the draw’s top seeded team of Bara and Bara (8-2) to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. The duo will meet the bracket’s No. 3 seeded pair from Louisville of Miller and Brown on Saturday at 9 a.m.

Joining them will be Andreazza and Brumit, as they have advanced to the semifinals of the C doubles flight. Andreazza and Brumit got there by first defeating Amrani and Gunaysu of Winthrop (8-6) and then topping Elon’s Smialek and Camara (8-3). The two Bucs will take on their flight’s top seed in Sutherland and Falcon of UNCG on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Wieliczko and Navrostska started the day well in the B doubles flight, taking down Forman and Bercyte of Wake Forest, but lost to their flight’s No. 2 seeded pair from VCU of Yakavleva and Terteac (8-2). The two Bucs will continue play in the fifth-place bracket on Saturday.

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