CHAPEL HILL, N.C.. (October 18, 2008) - After winning only one match during the qualifying round Thursday, the ETSU men's tennis team rebounded by advancing to the Round of 128, Friday at the USTA/ITA Mideast Regional Championships.

Overall, five Bucs qualified to the tournament's Main Draw bracket, including senior Alex Ahlgren (Tyreso, Sweden), who will swing into to action Saturday against Gardner-Webb's Evgeny Slesarev.

Leading the way for ETSU was newcomer Charles Bottoni (Bois Guillaume, France). The freshman Buc came out strong winning the first set against Maryland's Nickolai Nielson 6-2. After Nielson squeaked out the second set 5-7, Bottoni would rally to take the final deciding set 6-4, advancing to Saturday's Round of 64, where he'll face 15^th seeded Clay Donato of North Carolina.

Also in action for the Bucs were junior Grega Teraz (Gorenjska, Slovenia), who dropped a heartbreaking three set match to NC State's Derek Stephens 4-6, 6-2, 7-6.

Other notable ETSU players that were eliminated from further play after qualifying for the Main Draw's opening round were, freshman Sander Gille (Kuringen, Belgium) and junior Daniel Isaza (Medellin, Columbia). Gilled dropped to Davy Sum in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, while Isaza lost a tough match with Virginia's Drew Courtney 6-2, 7-5.