Wednesday, October 21, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Oct. 21, 2009) - After competing against some of the top teams in the nation this fall, the ETSU men's tennis team will continue that trend this weekend as the Bucs travel to the USTA/TA Regional Championships.

The four-day event will take place on the campus Indiana University, in Bloomington, Ind. The tournament format features both a singles and doubles qualifying bracket, which will start Thursday. The winner of those qualifying tournaments will then be matched up into the Main Draw bracket, which features some of the top-32 ITA national ranked players in the nation.

            Leading the way for the Bucs this weekend should be senior Danile Isaza (Medelilin, Columbia). The ETSU captain is coming off his best performance of the season, winning the top flight singles and doubles championships at the fourth annual UNF Fall Invitational two weeks ago.

            Also in action this weekend for the Bucs are freshmen Jesus Bandres (Carcas, Venezuela), Juan Ramirez (Asuncion, Paragury), sophomores Sander Gille (Kuringen, Belgium), Robin Akser (Ornskoldsvik, Sweden), Jeremy Bonnevalle (Keerbergen, Belgium), Ofir Weintraub (Rishon Le Zion, Israel),  and juniors Charles Bottoni (Bois Guillaume, France) and Grega Teraz (Mojstrana, Slovenia).

            Last season the Bucs had success at the regionals, as Bottoni and former ETSU standout Alex Ahlgren outlasted 64 players with their advancement to the Main Draw singles round, while Ahlgen and Enrique Olivares advanced to the quarterfinals of the doubles bracket.

For more information on the ITA Ohio Valley Regional please follow the link at www.ETSUBUCS.com or visit www.tennislink.usta.com.