Saturday, March 20, 2004

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Mar. 20, 2004) - East Tennessee State was defeated by the No. 53 University of Louisville men's tennis team in an away contest, 4-3 Friday at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. The win extends the Cards' home winning streak to 22 matches. "It was a great match," said ETSU head coach Yaser Zaatini. "We've lost a lot of close matches, but I'm very happy with how well the team is performing." U of L grabbed the doubles point to begin the match when the team of Matt Mayer and Jeremy Clark, No. 29 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, defeated Alejandro Salazar(Arequipa, Peru) and Oscar Posada (Valencia, Venezuela) 8-6 at the top seed. ETSU's Fernando Fiuri(Villa Maria, Argentina) and Felix Insaurralde(Asunción, Argentina) teamed to beat Damar Johnson and Mark Kennedy at the No. 3 seed to tie the doubles matches. Louisville's Octavian Nicodim and Jakob Gustafsson clinched the point with a 9-7 win over Diego iglesias (Mar del Plata, Argentina) and Moisés Serrano (Bucaramanga, Columbia) at No. 2. In singles, Mayer picked up a 6-0, 6-2 win over Salazar at No. 1. Johnson defeated Iglesias 6-0, 7-6 at No. 3 and Jhonny Berrido clinched the win for the Cardinal with a 7-6, 6-4 decision over Fiuri at the No. 4 seed. East Tennessee State's Posada defeated Nicodim 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2 Serrano outlasted Gustafsson 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 at No. 5 and Insaurralde beat Clark 6-1, 6-4 at No. 6. "This was a four and a half hour all-out war for these teams today," said U of L head coach Rex Ecarma. "That's three down-to-the-wire matches in a row we've won which leads me to believe that this team understands how to win close matches. The Bucs record is now 7-5 overall, 2-0 in the SoCon. Louisville's record is 11-7. ETSU continues its road stand with a pair of matches in Norfolk, Va. The Bucs will first face Old Dominion on Mar. 26 before taking on UAB on Mar. 27. #53 Louisville 4 - East Tennessee State 3 Singles 1. Matt Mayer (UL) def. Alejandro Salazar (ETSU) 6-0, 6-2 2. Oscar Posada (ETSU) def. Octavian Nicodim (UL) 6-3, 6-1 3. #90 Damar Johnson (UL) def. Diego Iglesias (ETSU) 6-0, 7-6 4. Jhonny Berrido (UL) def. Fernando Fiuri (ETSU) 7-6, 6-4 5. Moises Serrano (ETSU) def. Jakob Gustafsson (UL) 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 6. Felix Insaurralde (ETSU) def. Jeremy Clark (UL) 6-1, 6-4 Doubles 1. #29 Mayer/Clark (UL) def. Salazar/Posado(ETSU) 8-6 2. Nicodim/Gustafsson (UL) def. Iglesias/Serrano (ETSU) 9-7 3. Fuiri/Insaurralde (ETSU) def. Johnson/ Mark Kennedy (UL) 8-6 Team records: Louisville 11-7 ETSU 7-5, 2-0 SoCon