GREENEVILLE, S.C. (April 15, 2023) – After a close 4-3 loss against rival Furman for the regular season championship, the Bucs clinched the No. 2 seed for the upcoming SoCon women’s tennis tournament beginning April 20.
ETSU and Furman both entered the day undefeated in SoCon play and were looking to snag the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament.
Fresh off a 7-0 sweep over Western Carolina, the Bucs had plenty of momentum on their side as the two programs faced off with a perfect inner-conference record on the line.
It would be Furman that took an early lead over the Bucs following two wins in doubles play.
The duo of Jess Dawson and Sara Snyder of Furman would topple the ETSU duo of Laylo Bakhodirova (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) and Mariya Shumeika (Minsk, Belarus) in a 6-3 momentum grabbing win.
Furman would grab their second match of the day with the pair of Madison Dillon and Luca Victoria Vocke as they defeated Emilia Alfaro (Azul, Argentina) and Yunuen Elizarraras (Cuernavaca, Mexico) in a dominating 6-0 performance.
The Bucs would answer with a win in No. 5 singles play when ETSU’s own Daniela Rivera (Maturin, Venezuela) would make quick work in a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Madison Dillon and even the score 1-1.
Furman took a 2-1 lead following Marissa Pennings’ 6-2, 6-4 win over ETSU’s Mariya Shumeika. ETSU would even it back at 2-2 after a dominating 6-0 third set performance by Bakhodirova over Furman’s Ellie Schulson.
Following a No. 6 singles victory for Furman over ETSU’s Ralitsa Alexandrova (Sofia, Bulgaria), the Bucs trailed 3-2 with two more matches to go.
In a must-win situation, the Bucs needed two of two to pull off the comeback. Things looked promising following ETSU’s No. 3 single Maria Fernanda Carvajal (Queretaro, Mexico) and her three-set victory over Sara Snyder of Furman, which would leave the No. 4 singles match to decide the regular season championship.
ETSU’s Alfaro and Furman’s Dawson would trade sets, first with Alfaro taking a 6-3 win in the first and Dawson taking the second set, 6-4. The final set reached a score of 6-6 before a tiebreaker would see Dawson take the match with an 8-6 lead and capture the 4-3 victory for Furman, earning them the SoCon regular season title and No. 1 seed for the SoCon tournament.
The Bucs, 6-1 in SoCon play, earned the No. 2 seed for the tournament.
The No. 2 seeded Bucs will face the No. 7 seed Western Carolina on April 20, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The match is scheduled for 3 p.m.
For more information on ETSU women’s tennis, visit ETSUBucs.com/wtennis.
