Sunday, April 02, 2006

ROCK HILL, S.C. (April 2, 2006) - The ETSU men's tennis team continued their winning ways, defeating defending Big South champion Winthrop, 4-3 at the Memorial Courts on Sunday. The Bucs who are on a 12-game winning streak are now 18-5 on the year while the Eagles fall to 11-6. 

Action began with the Buccaneers claiming the doubles point sweeping the Eagles in all three matches. At the No. 1 doubles position, freshman Juan Crosa (Asuncion, Paraguay) and Oscar Posada (Valencia, Venezuela) defeated Rodrigo Santos and Germano Knorr, 8-5. The No. 2 doubles team of senior Felix Insaurralde (Asuncion, Paraguay) and Lisandro Picardo (Mar del Plata, Argentina) defeated Jorge Padilla and Alejandro Portugal, 8-4 to clench the doubles point. Enrique Olivares (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) and Sebastian Serrano (Cartagena, Colombia) completed the sweep by defeating Vinicius Bortolatto and Arthur Takahashi, 8-6.

In singles action, the Bucs increased their lead as freshman Enrique Olivares defeated Arthur Takahashi, 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 4 position, while in the No. 3 position Juan Crosa defeated Alejandro Portugal, 6-3, 7-5. With the 3-0 lead, ETSU then clenched the match when Lisandro Picardo defeated Jorge Padilla, 6-2, 6-3. In No. 1 singles, Oscar Posada fell to Vinicius Bortolatto, 6-2, 6-3, while Sebastian Serrano fell to Thiago Barbosa, 6-3, 6-2. In the last match of the day Felix Insaurralde was defeated by Rodrigo Santos, 6-3, 7-5.

"We played extremely well and the match was clenched at 4-0. We played well in doubles, and in the No. 3, No.4, and No. 5 singles positions, we were a little slow in the others but a win is a win," said head coach Yaser Zaatini.

The Buccaneers next match is scheduled for Friday, April 7, at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, to close out the regular season before traveling to Macon, Ga. for the A-Sun conference tournament. The match will start at 1:00 p.m.

ETSU 4, Winthrop 3

Singles
Vinicius Bortolatto (WU) def. Oscar Posada (ETSU) 6-2, 6-3

Rodrigo Santos (WU) def. Felix Insaurralde (ETSU) 6-3, 7-5

Juan Crosa (ETSU) def. Alejandro Portugal (WU) 6-3, 7-5

Enrique Olivares (ETSU) def. Arthur Takahashi (WU) 6-1, 6-0

Lisandro Picardo (ETSU) def. Jorge Padilla (WU) 6-2, 6-3

Thiago Barbosa (WU) def. Sebastian Serrano (ETSU) 6-3, 6-2

Order of Finish- 4, 3, 5*, 1, 6, 2

Doubles
Posada/Crosa (ETSU) def. Santos/Knorr (WU) 8-5
Insaurralde/Picardo (ESTU) def. Padilla/Portugal (WU) 8-4
Olivares/Serrano (ETSU) def. Bortolatto/Takahashi (WU) 8-6
Order of Finish- 1, 2*, 3