CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (October 18, 2006) - The ETSU men's tennis team wrapped up the first day of competition at the ITA Mideast Regional championships hosted by the University of North Carolina. Five members of the team competed in qualifying action today and all five are set to compete in tomorrow's main draw action along with four other members of the squad.

Senior Travis Sandlant (Werribee, Australia) defeated David Lue of Duke, 6-4, 6-4 before cruising past Charleston Southern's Jonathan Dean, 6-1, 6-2, while fellow senior Ricardo Rojas (Caracas, Venezuela) defeated Brandon Lindsley of Longwwood, 6-3, 7-5 before defeating Sebastian Bredberg of Elon who retired to injury.

Newcomers Predrag Burmazovic (Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro), Alex Ahlgren (Tyreso, Sweden), and Daniel Isaza (Medellin, Colombia) also qualified for the Bucs. Burmazovic defeated Winthrop's Germano Knorr, 6-2, 6-1 before battling it out with Alex Stone of Duke, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6. Ahlgren defeated David Cardoso of Longwood, 6-3 6-1 before defeating Ned Samuelson of Duke, 6-1, 6-3. Isaza defeated Jorge Padilla of Winthrop, 6-4, 6-3 before breezing by Richard Redding of Coastal Carolina, 6-1, 6-1.

"Having nine guys competing in the main draw at this event is a first for us," said head coach Yaser Zaatini. "It was a combination of a good draw and some great competition. It is really an honor for us to have so many guys competing in the main draw when school's like UNC only had one qualify."

The Bucs nine players is the most of any other school in the tournament, the closest is host school, North Carolina with eight.

ETSU will open up main draw play on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. when Lisandro Picardo (Mar del Plata, Argentina) takes on David Stone of North Carolina. For all ETSU men's tennis information visit www.etsubucs.com.