March 5, 2001

Richmond, Ky. - The Western Carolina women's tennis team played its first three matches of the 2001 season at Eastern Kentucky, March 2-3.

The Lady Cats first took on Wright State Friday, March 2 in a hard fought battle. Freshman Kristin Munn took Wright State's Leslie Marcum to three sets falling 2-6, 6-1, 0-6. WCU fell to Wright State 0-7 in the team's first match of the 2001 season.

Saturday proved to be better for the Lady Cats. In the morning match against Eastern Kentucky, WCU's Shannon Zalinski and Emmy King won their singles match over Kelli Williams and Andi Hill. Zalinski won by a score of 6-1, 4-6, 10-5, while King defeated Hill 7-6, 4-6 and 12-10. Both games were played in the super tiebreaker. King and Munn also defeated Tara Williams and Kelli Williams in the doubles 9-7.

Later in the day WCU played Georgetown College for the team's first win of the season 5-2. Munn and Zalinski defeated Julie Miller and Laura Morgan in singles play, 6-2, 6-0. King defeated Haley Hurt 6-2, 6-1 and Amy Rex marked her first victory over Jamie Stewart 8-6 in a pro set. Freshman Erin Johnson won her first set 6-4 over Rebecca Quate. She dropped the second 3-6 and had a comeback victory of 6-3 to clinch the win.

The women's tennis team will begin a Spring Break tour March 9 at Mercer University in Macon, Ga. The team will play seven matches in seven days finishing in Hilton Head, S.C. on March 15.