Bucs to battle Paladins in title match tomorrow at 2 p.m.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (April 21, 2023) – ETSU women’s tennis is heading to the Southern Conference championship match for the eighth time in a row, as the No. 2 seed Bucs blanked No. 6 Wofford with a 4-0 sweep in the semifinal round on Friday at Champions Club in Chattanooga.

ETSU — who has competed in every SoCon women’s tennis championship match since returning to the league in 2015 — will battle No. 1 seed Furman in the title match for the sixth straight time. Furman has won the last five championships, while ETSU seeks its first title since 2016.

The championship final will begin around 2 p.m. following the men’s championship featuring ETSU and Chattanooga at noon.

Though the match ended in a sweep, the doubles point was no walk in the park. First team all-conference duo Daniela Rivera (Maturin, Venzuela) and Maria Fernanda Carvajal (Queretaro, Mexico) started the day with a 6-4 win on Court 2 over Wofford’s Emma Sorensen and Catherine Blouin to start things off.

Shortly after, Emilia Alfaro (Azul, Argentina) and Ralitsa Alexandrova (Sofia, Bulgaria) clinched the doubles point for a second straight match with a 6-4 win on Court 3 over Emely Kahrs and Brianna Wilbur. Though their match went unfinished, top flight duo Laylo Bakhodirova (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) and Mariya Shumeika (Minsk, Belarus) had a 5-2 lead on Court 1.

In singles, ETSU clinched early with wins at the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 spots. Rivera was the first player to score in both the quarterfinal win over Western Carolina yesterday and the semifinal win today, taking down Kahrs by a 6-0, 6-2 final. Her doubles teammate, Carvajal, extended the lead with a 6-0, 6-4 win on Court 3 over Wilbur.

The final strike came courtesy of Shumeika on Court 2 with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Breda Brennan. Brennan posed a tough threat, fresh off her three-set win over Samford’s Ally Hayduk for the winning point in the quarterfinal round, but Shumeika dominated in both sets to end Wofford’s run.

ETSU also led on Court 4 before the match was completed elsewhere, as Alfaro was one point away from clinching with a 6-2, 5-2 lead over Georgia Fischer.

For more information on this weekend’s tournament, including the bracket, live stats, photos, directions to the Champions Club, tournament history and much more, click here. 

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