Thursday, March 28, 2002

Johnson City, Tenn. (Mar. 28, 2002) -- The No. 59-ranked East Tennessee State men's tennis team fell to No. 61-ranked Winthrop, 5-2, Thursday afternoon from Rock Hill, S.C. Winthrop opened the dual match by taking the doubles point, 2-0. At No. 1 doubles, Winthrop's Adam Narczewski and Clayton Almeida defeated East Tennessee State's team of junior Roberto Fernandez (Weston, Fla.) and junior Marcos Pavlovich (Otamendi, Argentina) in a tight match, 8-6. At No. 2 doubles, Mauricio Delgado and Michal Kweicien of Winthrop defeated junior Pablo Sahagun (Cuernavaca, Argentina) and sophomore Alejandro Salazar (Arequipa, Peru) of ETSU, 8-4. The No. 3 doubles match between sophomore Diego Iglesias (Mar del Plata, Argentina) and sophomore Moises Serrano (Bucaramanga, Colombia) of ETSU and Rodrido Cezar and Tito Ballester of Winthrop was not completed. Winthrop's Almeida, ranked No. 112 in the nation, opened singles play with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Pavlovich at No. 1 singles. Fernandez picked up the first point of the afternoon for the Bucs by defeating Ballester at No. 2 singles, 5-7, 3-4 (retired). At No. 3 singles, Winthrop's Kwiecien defeated ETSU's Sahagun, 6-3, 6-3. Iglesias won the second point of the day for the Bucs, defeating the Eagles' Gustavo Zanette, 6-0, 6-1. Winthrop won the final two singles matches of the day as Narczewski defeated ETSU's Salazar at No. 5 singles, 6-2, 6-0, and Delgado was victorious over Serrano, 6-3, 6-0. "This is a disappointing loss for us," said ETSU head coach Dave Mullins. "I felt like we were gaining momentum after the win over UNC Greensboro, but we took a step backward today. Hopefully we can get back on track tomorrow against Davidson." The loss drops the Buccaneers' record to 7-6 on the season. East Tennessee State returns to action tomorrow at 2 p.m. as they travel to Southern Conference rival Davidson. Singles matches: No. 1: Clayton Almeida (Winthrop) def. Marcos Pavlovich (ETSU), 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 No. 2: Roberto Fernandez (ETSU) def. Tito Ballester (Winthrop), 5-7, 3-4 (retired) No. 3: Michal Kwiecien (Winthrop) def. Pablo Sahagun (ETSU), 6-3, 6-3 No. 4: Diego Iglesias (ETSU) def. Gustavo Zanette (Winthrop), 6-0, 6-1 No. 5: Adam Narczewski (Winthrop) def. Alejandro Salazar (ETSU), 6-2, 6-0 No. 6: Mauricio Delgado (Winthrop) def. Moises Serrano (ETSU), 6-3, 6-0 Doubles matches: No. 1: Narczewski/Almeida (Winthrop) def. Fernandez/Pavlovich (ETSU), 8-6 No. 2: Delgado/Kweicien (Winthrop) def. Sahagun/Salazar (ETSU), 8-4 No. 3: Iglesias/Serrano (ETSU) vs. Rodrigo Cezar/Ballester, unfinished Team records: #59 East Tennessee State: 7-6, 3-0 Southern Conference #61 Winthrop: 14-1