Friday, January 18, 2013

No. 71 Bucs at No. 66 Wake Saturday, in Knoxville against Oklahoma State Sunday

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. and KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Jan. 18, 2013) – Dual play begins this weekend for the No. 71 ETSU men’s tennis team, as the Buccaneers take on No. 66 Wake Forest in the opener Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C., before heading to Knoxville, Tenn., for a neutral-site matchup against Oklahoma State.

Saturday’s matchup with the Demon Deacons is scheduled for 5 p.m., at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Courts. Sunday’s meeting with Oklahoma State is also scheduled for 5 p.m., and will take place at Tennessee’s Goodfriend Tennis Center.

Wake Forest is the first of eight nationally-ranked opponents ETSU has on its schedule. Other currently ranked opponents include No. 4 Ohio State, No. 63 Georgia State, No. 74 Nebraska, No. 6 Georgia, No. 64 North Florida, No. 49 Dartmouth and a meeting with either No. 65 Miami (FL) or No. 70 UL-Lafayette in Columbus, Ohio.

Senior Jesus Bandres (Caracas, Venezuela) enters the weekend in the regional rankings at No. 19 in the ITA’s Ohio Valley poll. Bandres, the 2012 Atlantic Sun Tournament MVP, is also ranked No. 7 in the region in doubles alongside junior Roger Ordeig (Gurb, Spain). ETSU also boasts the No. 8 doubles team in the region, consisting of senior Juan Ramirez (Asuncion, Paraguay) and junior Jorge Varon (Valencia, Venezuela).

Last weekend, ETSU opened the spring season at the Crimson Tide Indoor Invite in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Bucs began the tournament by taking out No. 33 Memphis in two of three doubles matches. Bandres and Ribeiro won 8-5 at No. 1 doubles, while Ramirez and Varon won in a tiebreak, 8-7 (7-2), at No. 2 doubles. The rest of the two-day invite did not go as smoothly, as ETSU lost in singles to No. 53 Alabama, before falling to Bama in doubles and Memphis in singles on Saturday.

Live results for Satuday’s matchup with Wake Forest will be available at WakeForestSports.com. 

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For more information on ETSU men’s and women’s tennis, please visit www.ETSUBucs.com.