JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 6, 2009) - Needing to recapture its form the ETSU men's tennis team did just that Friday by opening Atlantic Sun Conference play by rolling past league foe Lipscomb 7-0, at the Buddy Hartsell Tennis Center in Johnson City, Tenn. With the win ETSU improves to 2-6 overall and 1-0 in A-Sun play, while Lipscomb falls to 5-2 overall, with a 0-1 A-Sun mark.

After starting a different lineup for the first time this spring the No. 60th-ranked Bucs took the early 1-0 lead after winning two out of three doubles contests. After falling in No. 3 doubles action senior Enrique Olivares (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) and sophomore teammate Grega Teraz (Mojstrana, Slovenia) rallied for the Bucs taking their doubles match by dropping Lipscomb's Mario Hernandez and Daniel Hangstefer 8-5. ETSU followed that win up by clinching the pair's portion of the match as sophomore Daniel Isaza (Medellin, Columbia) and freshman Jeremy Bonnevalle (Keerbergen, Belgium) blew past the Bison team of James Murrell and Chad Pierron, 8-4.

ETSU opened singles play as freshman Robin Akser (Ornskoldsvik, Sweden) gave the Bucs a two point advantage dropping Hernandez 6-0, 6-0 in No. 5 singles action.  ETSU continued to add to its lead as senior Alex Ahlgren (Tyreso, Sweden) finished off Josh Cummings, 6-1, 6-0, while freshman teammate Sander Gille (Kuringen, Belgium) made quick work of Joe McArdle in No. 1 singles play by winning in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.

Sophomore Charles Bottoni (Bois Guillame, France) extended the ETSU advantage by dropping James Murrell in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, while Isaza rolled past Hangsterfer, 7-6, 6-2. Rounding out the scores was ETSU newcomer Jeremy Bonnevalle who finished off Lipscomb's Bruno Melibeu 6-4, 6-0 in his first career colligate match as a Buc.

"Today I wanted us to have a chance to play all the guys that have been working so hard lately," said head coach Yaser Zattni. "It was good to see Jeremy play today and again Sander contiuned to play extremely well like he has the last couple of weeks. Overall, Lipscomb has a nice team and it was good for our guys to step up to the plate and performed well in this situation."

ETSU will now have a quick turn around returning to action with a 3:00 a.m. Saturday afternoon contest against conference foe Belmont at the Buddy Hartsell Tennis Center on the campus of ETSU.

Results will be available online at www.ETSUBucs.com after the conclusion of both matches.