ETSU women’s tennis finishes seven-game road stretch this week

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 2, 2023) – ETSU women’s tennis will finish a long stretch of road games this weekend in the Music City, battling Lipscomb on Friday, Feb. 3 and Belmont on Saturday, Feb. 4. Both matches will be played at the Ensworth Tennis Center in Nashville.

A pair of evening showdowns, the Lipscomb match will happen Friday night at 7 p.m. and the Belmont match takes place Saturday at 5 p.m.

ETSU enters with a 2-3 overall record following three challenging Power 5 losses to Kentucky, Ole Miss and Virginia Tech the last few outings. Meanwhile, Lipscomb enters with a 3-2 record and Belmont enters 2-1.

The Bucs have dominated both series histories with Lipscomb and Belmont. ETSU owns a 13-1 record against the Bisons since 2006, including wins in each of the last three seasons. Meanwhile, the Blue and Gold are 6-0 against the Bruins since 2011 with four shutouts and a combined score of 40-2 in that span.

In last season’s meetings, ETSU swept both opponents with a 7-0 win over Belmont on Jan. 30 and a 4-0 win over Lipscomb later in the year on March 8. Both matches were at home in the Tri-Cities.

ETSU’s first seven duels of the 2023 spring season have been on the road, including trips to Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi and Virginia. The road trip finally comes to an end in Nashville before ETSU hosts its first set of matches in Bristol, Tenn.

Reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week Laylo Bakhodirova (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) leads the Bucs into the weekend with three singles wins and three doubles wins, including two in the most recent match at Virginia Tech. Grad transfer Mariya Shumeika (Minsk, Belarus) has teamed with Bakhodirova at No. 1 doubles and has slotted at No. 2 singles in all of her matches this season.

ETSU’s typical No. 3 player is Maria Fernanda Carvajal (Queretaro, Mexico) who enters with a 3-2 singles and doubles record this season. Two weeks ago at Ole Miss, Carvajal earned a ranked win over No. 89 Lillian Gabrielsen of Ole Miss.

Carvajal has played all of her doubles matches with sophomore Daniela Rivera (Maturin, Venezuela), who owns three doubles wins and a 2-2 record in singles from the No. 4 spot. 

For more information on Buccaneer women’s tennis, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women’s tennis page.