ATLANTA (Feb. 9, 2012) – The ETSU women’s tennis team dropped its first match of the season, as No. 47 Georgia State defeated the Bucs 7-0 on Thursday afternoon at Piedmont Park.

“We came up against a great team today,” ETSU assistant coach Travis Sandlant said. “We struggled to keep our intensity level up throughout the entire match, and against a team like Georgia State you have to be ready for a tough day.

“We need to make sure we compete for every point on the court, especially against the quality opponents we have upcoming.”

ETSU (1-1) was swept in doubles, with its closest match coming from freshman Jessica Brumit (Elizabethton, Tenn.) and senior Marine Wieliczko (Rouen, France) falling 8-3 to Masa Grgan and Martina Ondrackova in the No. 3 match. The Bucs lost the remaining two doubles matches 8-2, giving Georgia State (4-1) its first doubles sweep since Apr. 10, 2011 when the Panthers did so against Jacksonville.

In singles play, Paula Jaime (Madrid, Spain) was defeated for just the fourth time in 17 matches overall this year, as Tereza Lerova defeated the No. 115-ranked ETSU senior in straight sets 6-1, 6-4. After freshman Kelsey Williams (Sunbury, Australia) fell to Whitney Byrd 6-2, 6-0, Georgia State clinched the match as Abigail Tere-Apisah defeated Wieliczko 6-3, 6-4.

Junior Diana Navrostska (Lviv, Ukraine) was the only Buccaneer to pull out a set, taking Grgan to three sets in a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 defeat.

The 7-0 victory was Georgia State’s first since Apr. 3 of last season, while the 7-0 sweep was the first ETSU has fallen victim to since Mar. 13 of last year to Virginia Tech.

ETSU gets a chance to avenge itself on Saturday, when it travels to Blacksburg, Va. to faceoff with No. 61 Virginia Tech at 3:30 p.m.

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