BOONE, N.C. (Feb. 18, 2012) – The ETSU women’s tennis team will renew a former Southern Conference rivalry on Sunday afternoon when it travels to Boone, N.C. to battle Appalachian State inside the Yonahlossee Racquet Club at 2 p.m.

The meeting will be the first since April 9, 2005, when the two sides met in a Southern Conference match at the Buddy Hartsell Tennis Center. In that meeting, the Bucs blanked the Mountaineers 7-0 without dropping a set in either singles or doubles play. That year, ETSU made it to the semifinals of the conference tournament before falling to Furman 4-1.

On the 2011-12 campaign, ETSU (1-2) is looking to get back in the win column after coming off a tough road trip. Last Thursday, the Bucs sailed to Atlanta to take on then-No. 47 Georgia State, but were swept by the Panthers 7-0. Two days later, ETSU battled its second-consecutive ranked opponent in then-No. 61 Virginia Tech, but only managed victories from senior Paula Jaime (Madrid, Spain) and junior Diana Navrostska (Lviv, Ukraine). Jaime defeated Isel Martinez-Marcos 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 at the No. 2 singles to improve her singles record to 14-4 overall, 2-1 dual match play, and Navrostska earned her first win of the spring season with a 4-6, 6-1, 10-7 comeback over Emily Lauten.

Appalachian State (3-2) is coming off a 7-0 home sweep of Presbyterian on last Friday. The Mountaineers dropped just one set at the No. 5 singles position, but came back to win that match as Gabby Gabriel defeated Caroline deLoach in a match tiebreak 4-6, 6-2, 10-4. Like ETSU, Appalachian met with Virginia Tech earlier in the year, but were unable to get any points out of the match in a 7-0 defeat.

Jennifer Ansari and Ellie Linsell lead ASU with 4-1 singles records playing at the No. 1 and No. 2 singles positions, respectively. Ansari and Linsell are also Appalachian’s No. 1 doubles team, combining to go 4-1 through dual play this spring.

Live stats will be available pending the threat of snow in the Boone area, courtesy of GoASU.com.

For more information on ETSU tennis, please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the tennis links. Fans can also follow the Buccaneers on Twitter @ETSUAthletics, and on Facebook by liking the Bucs official Facebook page, ETSU Buccaneer Athletics.