Johnson City, Tenn. ? The top-seeded Stetson women's tennis team (14-8) saw its season come to an end Saturday afternoon in a 4-2 loss to second-seeded ETSU (16-7) in the Atlantic Sun Conference championship match at the Buddy Hartsell Tennis Center on the ETSU campus.  The Lady Bucs advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the last four years.  Freshman Shannon Gunning (Boca Raton, Fla.) won in singles and doubles for the Hatters and was named to the All-Tournament Team along with junior Valentina Galbarini (Montevideo, Uruguay).

Gunning and senior Katherine St. Clair (Palm Beach, Fla.), who played her final match for Stetson today, helped give the Hatters the doubles point with an 8-4 win over Vita Moskaliova and Tara Sheets at the #3 position.  Galbarini and sophomore Unnati Purushotham (Hyderabad, India) beat Yevgeniya Stupak and Paula Jaime 8-3 at the #1 spot to give the Hatters a 1-0 lead going into the singles matches.

Gunning made short work of Moskaliova in a 6-2, 6-2 victory at the #5 slot to extend the lead to 2-0 and bring the Hatters within two points of a championship, but that victory proved to be the last of the good news for Stetson on this day.  ETSU freshman Karina Kedzo swept Purushotham 6-0, 6-4 followed by Byrne and Jaime each rallying from a set down to win as the Lady Bucs went ahead 3-2.  Sophomore Jacqueline Faulk (Port Charlotte, Fla.) forced a third set in her #6 singles match with Sheets, but Sheets claimed a 6-2 win in the third set and with it the A-Sun title for ETSU. 

Stetson and ETSU had shared the league's regular season title with the #1 seed going to the Hatters by virtue of a 4-3 win in DeLand, but the Lady Bucs had the last laugh today and move on to the NCAA Tournament.

Byrne was named A-Sun Tournament Most Valuable Player and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by her teammates Sheets and Stupak in addition to Galbarini, Gunning and Jacksonville's Tatiana Soldatova.

The Hatters enjoyed another successful spring season in 2009, winning a share of their first regular season league title since conference dual matches began in 2007.  Galbarini was named to the All-Atlantic Sun First Team with Gunning earning a spot on the All-Freshman Team and Head Coach Sasha Schmid landing her second consecutive A-Sun Coach of the Year Award.  Six of the seven players participating in the tournament for the Hatters are slated to return next season as only St. Clair will be lost to graduation.