The ETSU women’s tennis team traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, to participate in the Southern Conference Championships on Friday, April 23, and Saturday, April 24. The Bucs managed to work their way into the Championship match once again, before eventually falling short to the top-seeded Furman Paladins.
On Friday, the second-seeded Bucs put away No. 3 seed Wofford, 4-0. The win against Wofford advanced the Bucs to the SoCon Championship match against the Paladins, who were ranked 32nd nationally, but the Bucs fell by a margin of 4-0.
Furman has remained a tough opponent over the years and this season was no exception. The Bucs faced Furman in their last regular-season match before the SoCon championships and lost 5-2, only to encounter them again a week later for the tiitle.
“We need to execute better and try to seize the moment,” said ETSU head coach Ricardo Rojas. “We got off to a slow start in both doubles and singles last time, so we need to get off to a quicker start.”
In the doubles matches, ETSU junior Alejandra Morales (Santiago, Chile) and freshman Mayya Gorbunova (Moscow, Russia) took on Furman’s Katarina Kozarov and Julia Adams, with Furman eventually taking the victory, 6-1. ETSU sophomore Laylo Bakhodirova (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) and sophomore Emilia Alfaro (Azul, Argentina) fell short against Furman’s Madison Dillon and MaryAnn Rompf by a final of 6-0.
For the singles, Bakhodirova played against Kozarov, but lost 6-1, 6-2. Morales played against Adams resulting in a loss 6-4, 6-3. The final singles game was played by ETSU’s sophomore Yunuen Elizarraras (Cuernavaca, Mexico), who battled against Furman’s Ellie Schoppe, but was defeated 6-4, 6-4. The other three singles games were left unfinished.
This was the women’s tennis team’s sixth straight SoCon Championship appearance, again with a very established team. Rojas was named SoCon coach of the year.
“We have great tradition and great players,” Rojas said. “When we recruit people here, the vision is to play for championships and win. We are still trying to get better, but overall we have done a great job to put ourselves in position to compete for championships.”
The Bucs ended with a 13-10 record and 7-2 in the conference. Maria Fernanda Carvajal (Queretaro, Mexico) was named freshman of the year. The team also received four all-SoCon selections.
“I’m just very proud of our girls and the hard work that’s been put in,” Rojas said. “They are an outstanding group and saw their growth throughout the season. We look forward to next season and hopefully get that winning trophy.”
