Sunday, October 06, 2002

Chattanooga, Tenn. (October 6, 2002) - East Tennessee State men's tennis duo Diego Iglesias (Mar del Plata, Argentina) and Alejandro Salazar (Arequipa, Peru) won their first match during Saturday's pre-qualifying round of the 2002 Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships at The Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn. However, the doubles team was eliminated from the tournament following a tough loss in the round of 32. Iglesias/Salazar defeated Tom Murray/Steve Timperly of Tulsa 9-8 in a 7-0 tiebreaker to advance out of the round of 64. But the pair couldn't get past Johan Burg/Daniel Langre of Southern California, the defending national team champions, losing 8-2. "This was our first tournament of the fall season and there were a lot of very good players here," ETSU head coach Dave Mullins said following the last match. "The head and humidity has been quite bad and it has taken its toll on everybody. It was a tough weekend for our team, but we'll regroup." The Buccaneers next event will be Oct. 18-20, when the team travels to Columbia, S.C. for the South Carolina Gamecock Invitational.