Saturday, September 12, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (Sept. 12, 2009) - Led by the strong play of freshman Jesus Bandres (Caracas, Venezuela) and junior Charles Bottoni (Bois Guillame, France) the ETSU men's tennis team wrapped up its second day of competition at the Synder Tennis Center in Charlottesville, Va.

Battling a tough field at the eighth annual UVA Fall Classic the youthful Bucs - who feature six underclassmen - have not backed down from a number of top-ranked players the last two days.

"We might feature a number of younger guys, but the one thing I'm pleased to see the last two days is how each of our players brought intensity and toughness to the court," said head coach Yaser Zaatini. "We've thrown Jesus into the fire early and exposed him to some top-level tennis. The things I see in him, so far, are very encouraging. He's a player that fights and has a hunger, like the rest of our guys, to be the best."

Bandres opened the day winning his second straight ranked match over No. 78 Michael Nichifor of Columbia, 6-3, 6-3, before bowing out in the semifinals to No. 9 Sanam Singh of host Virginia in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

 After Bottoni fell in his opening match against another ranked Cavalier, the second-year player responded by winning his second contest in as many days, advancing past Nichifor 3-6, 6-3, 7-6.

After falling to No. 59^th-ranked Christopher Aumueller in a long 6-2, 7-6 quarterfinal contest, junior Grega Teraz (Mojstrana, Slovenia) rebounded with a strong performance against one of South Florida's better players in Peter Frank, leading the Bull freshman 4-1, before he retired form play.

With Teraz and Bottoni advancing, both Buccaneer players will now face one another in Sunday's fifth place match, while Bandres battles in the third place contest.

"Grega played some long points against Aumueller this morning," Zaatini said. "He had him at set point during the second, but failed to convert. Against a good ranked player like that you can't give any second chances during a match. Despite the loss I was proud to see Grega comeback and play well during his second contest against Frank."

Sophomore Ofir Weintraub (Rishon Le Zion, Israel) picked up his first collegiate win defeating Liberty's Gemmi Lemmi, 6-1, 7-6. Senior Daniel Isaza (Medellin, Columbia) rounded out the Buc scores with two wins, advancing to the Sunday's Flight B consolation championship match.

In doubles action, the ETSU team of Jesus and sophomore Sander Gille (Kuringen, Belgium), continued their dominate play, advancing to Sunday's championship match with a victory over Nebraska's Trenite and Sock 8-4.

Play continues with final day action, starting at 9:00 a.m., Sunday.

Attached above are final results from Saturday's rounds.

For more information on the championship ETSU men's tennis team, please visit www.ETSUBucs.com.