Date Posted: 4/18/2007

Macon, Ga. – The 2007 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Tennis Championships are closing in as the 16-team field, eight men’s and eight women’s, travel to Johnson City, Tenn., for the three-day event set to begin on Friday.

ETSU returns on the defending champions on the women’s side. The Lady Bucs enter the competition on the heels of a 49-point winning streak, having won their last seven matches by a combined 49-0, and a share of the regular season title.

The regular season title was shared with Jacksonville, which enters the championship with a 13-match winning streak, including a 4-3 decision over ETSU on March 21.

A-SUN EXCELLENCE
Perfect Marks in Conference Play

On the women’s side, three players went undefeated while competing in every conference match.

The top-rated Dolphins from Jacksonville send Lena Willi to the championship after she went 9-0 in A-Sun action, all coming at the No. 2 singles spot.

ETSU had two women go 9-0 during the conference portion of its schedule. Elena Volobueva and Tara Byrne each posted perfect A-Sun records playing at the No. 5 and No. 4 singles positions, respectively. The Lady Bucs also had Vita Moskaliova post a perfect 8-0 record during A-Sun action.

In doubles action, three teams, with a minimum of six decisions, went undefeated. Jacksonville’s Tatiana Soldatova and Iva Jaresova competed at the No. 2 doubles spot, where they posted a perfect 8-0 record. Their record was the best record in the Atlantic Sun during the 2007 season.

ETSU’s Masha Ilina and Olya Batsula posted a 7-0 mark during conference play with six of those wins coming at the No. 1 doubles spot.

The other team to post a perfect record is from North Florida. The Ospreys had Florencia Torres and Ina Durcakova post a 6-0 record at the No. 1 singles spot, but are unable to participate in post-season play until the 2009-2010 season. Torres also partnered with Vanessa Sanchez to post a 2-0 doubles record.

PLAYING FAVORITES
ETSU, Jacksonville Enter Championships on Top

Two teams, ETSU and Jacksonville, posted 8-1 records in conference play on the women’s side this season. Jacksonville lost to the would-be third seeded Ospreys from North Florida, while ETSU suffered its only conference loss to JU. Due to the tie-breaker rules, Jacksonville enters the championship with the No. 1 seed and ETSU will begin tournament play as the No. 2 seed.

Last season the Dolphins entered the championship as the No. 5 seed and were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Mercer. This season, Jacksonville would like to take the same path as the Lady Bucs did in 2006.

Against conference opponents, Jacksonville gave up 20 points and finished the regular season with a 42-20 combined points record. Although the 22-point gap is a sizeable one, ETSU was able to best that, allowing just six points all season to conference teams, including four in the match the Lady Bucs lost to Jacksonville. The other two points were earned by Stetson in a 5-2 decision on March 9.

Jacksonville was unable to sweep a match all season, including non-conference action, while ETSU swept nine matches. Following their loss to Jacksonville on March 21, the Lady Bucs have not surrendered a point to any team, and enter the championship on a 49-point winning streak. The streak is the longest of its kind for any Atlantic Sun team, including both men and women.

Although the Lady Bucs have been able to accumulate the largest point streak, the top-seeded Dolphins went 3-3 to open the season, and have gone on a 13-match winning streak since then, including the win over the second-ranked Lady Bucs.

WILLI EARNS MOST INDIVIDUAL WINS

Jacksonville’s Lena Willi hascollected the most singles wns during the spring dual match season. Willi, a junior from Freiburg, Germany, has earned 19 wins to lead all women entering the championship.

Related Links:
 • Women's Championship Information