JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 1, 2008) - The 45th-ranked ETSU men's tennis team began the defense of their Atlantic Sun conference title on Saturday as they blanked the Mercer Bears, 7-0. The Bucs improve to 7-3 overall and 1-0 in conference action while the Bears fall to 2-7, 0-2.

ETSU claimed the doubles point and earned a 1-0 advantage as Oscar Posada (Valencia, Venezuela) and Alex Ahlgren (Tyreso, Sweden) defeated Tobias Ohrstrom and Fernando Armendaris, 8-3 in the No. 1 position while Enrique Olivares (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) and Sebastian Serrano (Cartagena, Colombia) dropped Ivan Besancon and Justin Wimpee, 8-3 in the No. 2 slot. The Bucs completed the sweep as Lisandro Picardo (Mal del Plata, Argentina) and Daniel Isaza (Medellin, Colombia) cruised past Ryan Ingram and Matt Poleon, 8-4 in the third position.  

The Bucs kept the momentum going as they swept all six singles matches with five matches finishing in straight sets. In the top position 51st-ranked Enrique Olivares rallied from a set down to defeat Tobias Ohrstrom, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 as Sebastian Serrano defeated Ivan Besancon, 7-6, 6-2 in the No. 2 slot. Competing in the third position Predrag Burmazovic (Belgrade, Serbia) dropped Justin Wimpee, 6-2, 7-6 while Lisandro Picardo breezed by Fernando Armendaris, 6-3, 6-1 in the No. 4 position. Oscar Posada defeated Matt Poleon in the fifth slot, 6-3, 6-4 while Sergio Velez (Medellin, Colombia) cruised past Ryan Ingram, 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 6 position.

The Bucs will be back in action on March 4 as they travel to Providence, R.I. to take on Brown University. The match is set to begin at 5:00 p.m. For all ETSU men's tennis action visit www.ETSUBucs.com.

#45 ETSU 7, MER 0 

Singles

No. 1- #51 Enrique Olivares (ETSU) def. Tobias Ohrstrom (MER) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3

No. 2- Sebastian Serrano (ETSU) def. Ivan Besancon (MER) 7-6, 6-2

No. 3- Predrag Burmazovic (ETSU) def. Justin Wimpee (MER) 6-2, 7-6

No. 4- Lisandro Picardo (ETSU) def. Fernando Armendaris (MER) 6-3, 6-1

No. 5- Oscar Posada (ETSU) def. Matt Poleon (MER) 6-3, 6-4

No. 6- Sergio Velez (ETSU) def. Ryan Ingram (MER) 6-0, 6-0

Doubles

No. 1- Ahlgren/Posada (ETSU) def. Ohrstrom/Armendaris (MER) 8-3

No. 2- Olivares/Serrano (ETSU) def. Besancon/Wimpee (MER) 8-3

No. 3- Isaza/Picardo (ETSU) def. Ingram/Poleon (MER) 8-4