Women’s tennis fall 4-2 at Virginia Tech

ETSU tennis player Emilia Alfaro during the match against Virginia Tech. (Contributed/ETSU Athletics)

ETSU Women’s Tennis wrapped up its third consecutive Power 5 game on Sunday in a narrow 4-2 loss to an undefeated Virginia Tech Hokies.

The Bucs (2-3) started the spring season 2-0 after wins at Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific before a three-game streak where they have since faced a (4-2) Kentucky, (3-0) Ole Miss and (3-0) Virginia Tech.

In the match, the Bucs were led by Laylo Bakhodirova (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) and her two wins in singles and doubles.

Bakhodirova was joined by teammate Mariya Shumeika (Minsk, Belarus) and took on VT’s top pair of Daryia Radulova and Ozlem Uslu. ETSU’s No. 1 pair would walk away with a 6-4 victory in the game.

The Bucs’ No.2 pair of Daniela Rivera (Maturin, Venezuela) and Maria Fernanda Carvajal (Queretaro, Mexico) would also claim a 6-2 victory in their match against VT’s Erika Cheng and Sabina Richtrova.

The Bucs were in good shape until a pair of singles runs gave the Hokies a lead in the game.

Bakhodirova would claim the No. 1 singles victory when she faced Radulova, winning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. The eldest goes 3-2 in No. 1 singles for the season. Thanks to her performance, the senior was named Southern Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Week, for the second time in three weeks.

This is the fifth time that Bakhodirova has won honours.

The Bucs, at the end of a seven-game road opener, will head to Nashville to wrap up the long road trip to Lipscomb and Belmont.

The Bucs will first face a team of Lipscomb (3-2) who are coming off a loss at Murray State on Feb. 3 at 7 p.m., followed by their game against the (2-1) Belmont Bisons on Feb. 4. 17 hours

For more information on ETSU women’s tennis, visit ETSUBucs.com/wtennis.

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