No. 48 Minnesota stays strong at home dropping No. 45. Bucs, 5-2

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Gille

The Bucs look to get back on track against Western Michigan Sunday

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (Feb. 28, 2009) - Again facing a ranked ITA opponent the ETSU men's tennis team fell at No. 48 Minnesota, 5-2 Saturday morning at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn. With the loss the Bucs fall to 1-5 on the year, while the Gophers improved with its four straight win to a 9-1 mark.

Minnesota came out strong sweeping all three doubles matches giving the Gophers a early 1-0 lead.

As singles play opened Minnesota again jumped on the Bucs as No. 123rd-ranked Tobias Wernet gave the Gophers a two point lead as he defeated sophomore Charles Bottoni (Bois Guillame, France) 6-4, 6-0. Minnesota followed that win up by picking up three straight singles contests as Ishay Hadash dropped senior No. 15th-ranked Enrique Olivares (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela), Julian Dehn defeated senior Alex Ahlgren (Tyreso, Sweden) and Dino Bilankov finished off freshman Robin Akser (Ornskoldsvik, Sweden) giving the Gophers a demanding 5-0 lead.

ETSU did manage to get on the board in the final two singles matches of the morning as freshman Sander Gille (Kuringen, Belgium) picked up his team-leading fifth win of the spring, dropping Sebastain Gallego, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. Teammate and sophomore Grega Teraz (Mojstrana,, Slovenia) rounded out the scoring by ending Minnesota's Phillip Arndt nine-match winning streak, with a 6-1, 7-6 win.

ETSU will have a quick turn around as they return to action Sunday afternoon against unranked Western Michigan in Minneapolis, Minn.

#48 Minnesota 5, #45 East Tennessee State 2
Doubles
1. Tobias Wernet-Michael Sicora (MINN) def. Enrique Olivares-Alex Ahlgren (ETSU) 8-5
2. Ishay Hadash-Phillip Arndt (MINN) def. Daniel Isaza-Robin Akser (ETSU) 8-2
3. Julian Dehn-Sebastian Gallego (MINN) def. Grega Teraz-Charles Bottoni (ETSU) 8-6
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2

Singles
1. Hadash (MINN) def. #15 Olivares (ETSU) 7-6 (5), 6-2
2. #123 Wernet (MINN) def. Bottoni (ETSU) 6-4, 6-0
3. Sander Gille (ETSU) def. Gallego (MINN) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
4. Teraz (ETSU) def. Arndt (MINN) 6-1, 7-6 (0)
5. Dino Bilankov (MINN) def. Akser (ETSU) 6-4, 6-3
6. Dehn (MINN) def. Ahlgren (ETSU) 6-4, 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 1, 6, 5, 4, 3

For more information and results on the ETSU men's tennis team please visit www.ETSUBUCS.com.