Sports
I' ij^i 11 M
Asheville Tourists demolish
Bulldogs 18-1 in exhibition
See page 15
{The Blue Banner}
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
ETSU overpowers women’s tennis with 6-1 victory
By Natalie Pearson
Staff Writer
NGPEARSO@UNCA.EDU
In women’s tennis action last week
end, the Bulldogs fell 6-1 to the East
ern Tennessee State University Bucca
neers in their penultimate home game
for the 2010 season.
“The match went OK. ETSU is a
good team. They beat an ACC team
this year,” Head Coach Lise Gregory
said. “Everybody competed well, as
usual, which is fun to see a group of
people competing that hard across the
board.”
Despite a high level of competition,
multiple close matches and a win from
senior Louise Bottomley, the team
could not overpower the teimis talent
from Johnson City.
“It was disappointing as a whole
jiist because we would have had to
have played really well to beat them,
but we could have done it,” said Bot
tomley, who played No. 5 for the Bull
dogs on Saturday.
The team said the loss was a disap
pointment but they know they played a
difficult ETSU team.
“Obviously they’re a really good
team because they’re first in their
conference,” said No. 4 player Nicole
Schon. “But I think if you look at in
dividual scores, everyone had really
close matches and we competed just as
well as them.”
The Buccaneers also boasted a na
tionally ranked player, Yevgeniya Stu-
pak, who faced Leslie Smith at the No.
1 spot.
“Stupak was an awesome player,”
Bottomley said. “She was in the rank
ing last year, so playing against a na
tionally ranked player is definitely
hard work.”
The lineup and scores for the day’s
match were Smith at one (1-6, 0-6),
Stephanie Schon at two (4-6, 3-6), De
von Cavanaugh at three (6-7, 3-6), N.
Schon at four (4-6, 1-6), Bottomley at
five (6-4, 6-3) and Sarah Brinkley at
six (2-6, 4-6).
Bottomley, who has now increased
her personal record to 10-3 on the sea
son, was the day’s only victory and an
outstanding performer, according to N.
Schon.
“Louise played really well and was
doing all the right things, like coming
in to the net and taking advantage of
short balls,” she said. “I think she had
a really good match.”
Bottomley’s gameplay also im
pressed Gregory.
“Louise has been playing good all
year, but had a consistently good match
on Saturday,” she said. “She tends to
have some ups and downs, but that was
the most consistent I’ve seen her from
the beginning to end.”
However, England native Bottom-
ley remains focused on the bigger pic
ture.
“I played well and got a good re
sult, but in the end the team didn’t win
and that’s most important,” she said.
According to the team, the opening
doubles matches set a negative tone for
Photos by Stephanie Schon - Staff Photographer
Nicole Schon returns a volley during her first match against ETSU.
Schon returns a serve during her first match. Schon iost 4-6 in the first
match and 1-6 in the second to the ETSU Buccaneers.
the Bulldogs.
“I think in doubles in general we got
a little bit of a slow start and were a
little intimidatated,” Gregory said.
Bottomley, who plays at doubles
No. 2 with Cavanaugh, agreed.
“Our doubles didn’t really get off
to a good start,” Bottomley said. “But
that’s just the way the cookie crum
bles.”
The doubles pairings and scores
were Smith and S. Schon 8-4, Bottom-
ley and Cavanaugh 8-4 and N. Schon
and Tania Mateva 8-3.
Although the slow doubles start
cost the team a victory, it did not stop
them from looking for positives in the
action.
“We were more aggressive and we
worked on a more transitional game,”
N. Schon said. “It’s not going to hap
pen overnight, but in time I think we’re
going to start beating the top teams.”
Sister and teammate Stephanie
Schon agreed.
“Coach was proud of us and said a
lot of us are doing the necessary things
to get better, and she always talks
about the process instead of the results
and everybody did that,” she said.
The team also said they gained
some valuable learning points from
the defeat.
“I feel like we can learn that we can
compete with these kinds of teams and
I think that’s good,” Bottomley said.
“We just need to go one step further
and beat them because we are definite
ly capable of doing that.”
The Bulldogs, who are now 12-7 on
the season, kick off the Big South Con
ference tournament next weekend.
“I think we are all really excited
because as long as we’re all playing
well on the day, we can beat anybody,”
Bottomley said.
With only one match left in the reg
ular season, Gregory said she is focus
ing on the to-do list until the tourna
ment.
Sbe. ETSU Page 16 I