Tuesday, April 25, 2000

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- For the third consecutive week, both the Southern Conference men's and women's tennis Players-of-the-Week are from East Tennessee State. Junior Juan Yannuzzi (Mar del Plata, Argentina) and sophomore Paty Vega (Mexico City, Mexcio) were honored today by the Southern Conference.

Yannuzzi led the Bucs in a 4-3 Southern Conference Championship-clinching win at College of Charleston (April 20). Yannuzzi won his No. 4 singles match in straight sets -- 6-0, 6-1 -- over Brett Deixler. He teamed with Marcos Pavlovich to win at No. 2 doubles, 8-3.

The singles win improved Yannuzzi's career record to 29-0 in Southern Conference matches. He has not lost a SoCon match in his three years at ETSU.

Vega went 2-0 in singles and 1-0 in doubles to lead the Bucs in Southern Conference wins against UNC Greensboro (April 21) and Wofford (April 22). Both of Vega's singles victories were in straight sets at the No. 1 position. She also teamed with Megan Edwards to win at No. 2 doubles against the Spartans.

Vega is 15-12 in singles competition this year, 9-9 at No. 1. She has led the Bucs to a 14-4 overall record, 8-1 in the Southern Conference. Vega and her teammates will compete as the No. 2 seed in the Southern Conference Tournament this weekend (April 27-30) in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The men's team finished the regular season 18-7 overall, 10-0 in the Southern Conference. The Bucs won their second consecutive SoCon regular-season title and will enter this weekend's championship as the No. 1 seed.