Wednesday, March 05, 2008

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (March 5, 2008) - The 56th-ranked ETSU men's tennis team dropped the No. 48 Harvard Crimson, 5-2 on Wednesday night at the Murr Center Courts. ETSU improves to 9-3 on the year while the Crimson fall to 4-3.

ETSU took two of the three doubles matches to claim the point for an early 1-0 advatange. In the No. 2 position the 53rd-ranked duo of Sebastian Serrano (Cartagena, Colombia) and Enrique Olivares (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) defeated Dan Nguyen and Aba Omodele-Lucien, 8-6 while Lisandro Picardo (Mar del Plata, Argentina) and Daniel Isaza (Medellin, Colombia) dropped Chris Clayton and Michael Hayes, 8-4 in the No. 3 slot. In the top position Oscar Posada (Valencia, Venezuela) and Alex Ahlgren (Tyreso, Sweden) fell to Ashwin Kumar and Sasha Ermakov, 8-5.

Competing in No. 1 singles No. 61 Enrique Olivares defeated Ashwin Kumar, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, while Predrag Burmazovic (Belgrade, Serbia) cruised past Sasha Ermakov, 6-4, 6-2 in the third position. In the No. 4 slot Lisandro Picardo continued his winning ways as he defeated Dan Nguyen, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 while Oscar Posada rallied from a set down to drop Aba Omodele-Lucien, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Harvard secured its two points as Sebastian Serrano fell to No. 64 Chris Clayton, 6-1, 6-4 in the second position as Daniel Isaza fell in the No. 6 slot to Alexei Chijoff-Evans, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

"I think the guys played really well to recover from such a tough match the night before. I'm really proud of the way they played against these two Ivy League schools which have such strong tennis programs. I can't say enough praises about the way the team is playing right now," said head coach Yaser Zaatini.  

The Bucs will be back in action on March 7 as they return to A-Sun action against Belmont. The match is set to begin at 11 a.m. Follow all ETSU men's tennis action at www.ETSUBucs.com.

#56 ETSU 5, #48 Harvard 2

Singles

No. 1- #61 Enrique Olivares (ETSU) def. Ashwin Kumar (HU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-3

No. 2- #64 Chris Clayton (HU) def. Sebastian Serrano (ETSU) 6-1, 6-4

No. 3- Predrag Burmazovic (ETSU) def. Sasha Emrakov (HU) 6-4, 6-2

No. 4- Lisandro Picardo (ETSU) def. Dan Nguyen (HU 6-2, 4-6, 6-3

No. 5- Oscar Posada (ETSU) def. Aba Omodele-Lucien (HU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

No. 6- Alexei Chijoff-Evans (HU) def. Daniel Isaza (ETSU) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3

Doubles

No. 1- Kumar/Ermakov (HU) def. Posada/Ahlgren (ETSU) 8-5

No. 2- #53 Olivares/Serrano (ETSU) def. Nguyen/Omodele-Lucien (HU) 8-5

No. 3- Isaza/Picardo (ETSU) def. Clayton/Hayes (HU) 8-3