Saturday, March 24, 2007

BUIES CREEK, N.C. (March 24, 2007 - The ETSU men's tennis team took on conference opponents Campbell University today in Buies Creek, N.C. and were victorious 6-1. The Bucs now improve to 16-4 on the season and remain undefeated in conference play 6-0.

Play started out tight in doubles action but the Bucs managed to come out on top in all three positions. Alex Ahlgren (Tyreso, Sweden) and Travis Sandlant (Werribee, Australia) defeated Gabriel Delarue and Marc Sifre 9-8 in the No. 1 position. Enrique Olivares (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) and Sebastian Serrano (Cartegena, Colombia) defeated Artoym Starkov and Vasja Gorjup 8-5 in the No. 2 position, while Daniel Isaza (Medellin, Colombia) and Lisandro Picardo (Mar Del Plata, Argentina) also faced a tiebreaker before winning 9-8 against Viktor Taune and Sebastian Thesloff in the third position.

In singles action Sebastian Serrano took care of his match in the No. 3 position winning 6-2, 6-0 against Artoym Starkov. Lisandro Picardo followed in the fifth position with a convincing 6-3, 6-1 over Viktor Taune.

Senior Felix Insaurralde defeated  Vasja Gorjup 6-4, 6-2 in the fourth slot, while Daniel Isaza won in the sixth slot against Sebastian Thesloff 6-4, 6-4. The remaining two matches both came down to tight third sets as the teams fought for the remaining two points. Enrique Olivares fell to Gabriel Delarue in the top spot for the Bucs 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 giving Campbell their first point of the match, while Predrag Burmasovic battled out his match in the No. 2 position before eventually winning 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 against Marc Sifre.

"Today's match lacked a lot of passion even though we were able to put our opponent away," said head coach Yaser Zaatini. "There were a lot of areas where we showed weaknesses, like our intensity, but we should expect to everything to be functioning when we get onto the court. Lisandro and Sebastian were solid as usual and put there matches away. We have lots of preparing to do in the next week to get ready for the rest of our matches."

ETSU men's tennis will travel to Boiling Springs, N.C. on Tuesday, March 27 to take on their next conference opponent Gardner-Webb at 2 p.m.

Doubles

No. 1- Ahlgren/Sandlant (ETSU) def. Delarue/Sifre (CU) 9-8

No. 2- Olivares/Serrano (ETSU) def. Starkov/Gorjup (CU) 8-5

No. 3- Isaza/Picardo (ETSU) def. Taune/Thesleff (CU) 9-8

Singles

No. 1- Gabriel Delarue (CU) def. Enrique Olivares (ETSU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

No. 2- Predrag Burmasovic (ETSU) def. Marc Sifre (CU) 6-3, 1-6, 7-5

No. 3- Sebastian Serrano (ETSU) def. Artoym Starkov (CU) 6-2, 6-0

No. 4- Felix Insaurralde (ETSU) def. Vasja Gorjup (CU) 6-4, 6-2

No. 5- Lisandro Picardo (ETSU) def. Viktor Taune (CU) 6-3, 6-1

No. 6- Daniel Isaza (ETSU) def. Sebastian Thesloff (CU) 6-4, 6-4