Sunday, April 20, 2008

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 20, 2008) - Top-seeded and 37th-ranked ETSU Bucs tennis team dropped the 56th-ranked Stetson Hatters, 4-0 on Sunday afternoon in route to their second consecutive Atlantic Sun conference title and NCAA berth. The Bucs improve to 23-3 overall while the Hatters fall to 21-5.

The Bucs took the early 1-0 lead as they captured the doubles point. Daniel Isaza (Medellin, Colombia) and Lisandro Picardo (Mar del Plata, Argentina) cruised past Joey Jones and Marcus Echtler, 8-3 in the No. 3 position, while Enrique Olivares (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) and Sebastian Serrano (Cartagena, Colombia) downed Filip Kricka and Hicham Laalej, 8-5 in the No. 2 slot. The No. 1 doubles match was called when ETSU took the point.

ETSU continued to dominate the singles matches dropping Stetson in straight sets in the No. 6, 1, and 4 positions. In the No. 6 slot Daniel Isaza gave the Bucs the 2-0 advantage when he won his match over Gokay Celik who had to retire due to injury. The 2008 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, Enrique Olivares, defeated Marcus Echtler, 6-3, 6-1 in the top position while senior Lisandro Picardo clinched the match for the Bucs and continued his perfect spring season, 6-3, 6-1 over Filip Kricka in the No. 4 slot.

Three members of the team, Enrique Olivares, Oscar Posada and Lisandro Picardo were all named to the 2008 All-Tournament team while Olivares was named the Tournament MVP for the second consecutive year. Olivares is 23-5 on the season, while Posada who had two tournament victories is 19-8 on the year. Picardo who picked up victories in two tournament matches is 27-3 on the season and 19-0 in the spring.

The selection for the 2008 NCAA Championships will be announced on April 29. This year's tournament will be hosted by the University of Tulsa.

For all ETSU men's tennis action and information on the NCAA Championships visit www.ETSUBucs.com.

#37 ETSU 4, STET 0 

Singles

No. 1- #71 Enrique Olivares (ETSU) def. Marcus Echtler (STET) 6-3, 6-1

No. 2- Sebastian Serrano (ETSU) vs. Hicham Laalej (STET) DNF

No. 3- Predrag Burmazovic (ETSU) vs. Joey Jones (STET) DNF

No. 4- Lisandro Picardo (ETSU) def. Filip Kricka (STET) 6-3, 6-1

No. 5- Oscar Posada (ETSU) vs. Serguei Boulanov (STET) DNF

No. 6- Daniel Isaza (ETSU) def. Gokay Celik (STET) ret. inj.

Doubles

No. 1- Ahlgren/Posada (ETSU) vs. Boulanov/Swanteson (STET) DNF

No. 2- Olivares/Serrano (ETSU) def. Laalej/Kricka (STET) 8-5