Women’s tennis set to welcome Liberty and Western Carolina in home openers
Women’s tennis set to welcome Liberty and Western Carolina in home openers
Friday, March 2, 2012

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 2, 2012) – The ETSU women’s tennis team will open the home schedule this weekend as the Buccaneers are set to face Liberty on Saturday followed by a midweek matchup with Western Carolina on Tuesday. Saturday's match starts at 2 p.m., while Tuesday's contest with Western Carolina starts at 3 p.m.

ETSU (1-4), after having its Friday match with UNC Asheville postponed due to the threat of inclement weather, most recently ran into an undefeated South Carolina State (6-0) squad last Saturday and lost to the Lady Bulldogs 5-2. The match was the last of an entire month which ETSU spent on the road, where the Bucs also met with then-No. 47 Georgia State, then-No. 61 Virginia Tech and UNC Wilmington. ETSU was also scheduled to face Appalachian State (Feb. 19), but had the match rescheduled to April 13 due to the threat of inclement weather in the Boone area.

Freshman Jessica Brumit (Elizabethton, Tenn.) is coming off two-consecutive straight-set victories in ETSU’s last two matches. Last Thursday against UNC Wilmington, Brumit defeated Casey Dashiell 6-3, 6-1 to earn the Elizabethton native her first collegiate dual match singles victory. Two days later against South Carolina State, Brumit made it two in a row when she fought to win a second-set tiebreak and take down Laura Bosneag in a much closer 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) contest. Also in that match, senior Marine Wieliczko (Rouen, France) defeated Akilah James 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 singles, and teamed with Brumit to win 8-5 at No. 3 doubles.

Liberty (1-5) has lost its last two matches by scores of 6-1 to Coastal Carolina and 5-2 to then-No. 62 Virginia Tech. The Flames’ only victory of the season came on Feb. 9 in a 4-3 decision over Longwood.

Nicola Wellman and Brittany Yang lead the singles win column for Liberty, each having won three matches to date this spring. Wellman, who splits time at No. 4, 5 and 6 singles, is on a three-match winning streak which included a win over Katie Blow of Virginia Tech’s nationally ranked team 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

The Bucs are the second of three road matches for Liberty to kickoff the month of March, as the Flames first travel to Marshall the day before their match with ETSU, and then head to Baltimore to take on UMBC on Wednesday.

Western Carolina (0-5) is still in search of its first win of the 2012 spring season. On the road this year, the Catamounts are 0-2 with a 7-0 loss to Coastal Carolina (Feb. 11) and a 5-1 defeat to Georgia Southern (March 1) in their conference opener.

The Bucs’ last meeting with Catamounts came March 26, 2006 in Cullowhee, N.C., where ETSU walked away with a 7-0 sweep.

Fans unable to attend the matches can receive live updates all weekend long by following @ETSUAthletics on Twitter.

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