MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (January 28, 2007) - The ETSU men's tennis team upset 31^st-ranked Middle Tennessee State University today in the biggest win in Buccaneer tennis history. Battling through a match lasting four hours, the Bucs overcame the Raiders 4-2 in the Racquet Club of Murfreesboro.

Head coach Yaser Zaatini says he is very excited about today's win and is looking forward to more great things to come. "My level of proudness is unbelievable, I am extremely excited, we have a great group of guys and they fought really hard," said Zaatini.

The Bucs took an early lead claiming the doubles point and had the edge leading into singles play. Lisandro Picardo (Mar Del Plata, Argentina) and Felix Insaurralde (Asuncion, Paraguay) fell to the No. 16 ranked team of Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom 8-6 in the No. 1 position, while Enrique Olivares (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) and Sebastian Serrano (Cartagena, Colombia) picked up a win over Richard and Rocafort 8-5 in the No. 3 position. Travis Sandlant (Werribee, Australia) and Alex Ahlgren (Tyreso, Sweden) clinched the doubles point for the Bucs with a close 9-7 victory over Pailiello and Boiron in the No. 2 position.

In singles action the Bucs picked up wins in the No. 2, 3 and 5 positions. Senior Felix Insaurralde fell to No. 41 Andreas Slijestrom 6-3, 6-1, while Sebastian Serrano took a loss in the fourth position to Marc Rocafort 6-4, 6-0.

Both Predrag Burmazovic ( Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro) and Enrique Olivares battled through three-set matches before coming out on top of their opponents. Burmazovic defeated Marco Born in the No. 2 slot 3-6, 7-5, 6-1, while Olivares defeated Morgan Richard 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in the third position. Lisandro Picardo clinched the match for ETSU with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Marc Voiron in the No. 5 position. Sandlant's match did not finish, as the match was decided in favor of ETSU.

The Bucs recently lost a hard fought match to # 14 VCU, and with today's thrilling win over highly ranked MTSU, coach Zaatini has a positive outlook for the rest of the season, "the other team had some injuries but we still had to go out there and beat them. They believed in themselves and that's what I try to tell them. We are just as good as anyone else and today we came through. They put their hearts out there and have never done anything like that before. I hope this will lead to better things."

The  Bucs will take on Belmont and Lipscomb in Johnson City at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. February 4.

ETSU 4, MTSU 2

Doubles

No. 1- # 16 Born/Siljestrom (MTSU) def. Insaurralde/Picardo (ETSU) 8-6

No. 2- Sandlant/Ahlgren (ETSU) def. Pailiello/Boiron (MTSU) 9-7

No. 3- Olivares/Serrano (ETSU) def. Richard/Rocafort (MTSU) 8-5

Deciding Match No. 2

Singles

No. 1- # 41 Andreas Siljestrom (MTSU) def. Felix Insaurralde (ETSU) 6-3, 6-1,

No. 2- Predrag Burmazovic (ETSU) def. Marco Born (MTSU) 3-6, 7-5, 6-1

No. 3- Enrique Olivares (ETSU) def. Morgan Richard (MTSU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

No. 4- Marc Rocafort (MTSU) def. Sebastian Serrano (ETSU) 6-4, 6-0

No. 5- Lisandro Picardo (ETSU) def. Marc Boiron (MTSU) 6-4, 6-3

No. 6- Travis Sandlant (ETSU) and Joao Pailiello (MTSU) DNF