BUIES CREEK, N.C. (Mar. 29, 2011) - The ETSU men's tennis team picked up a crucial 5-2 road win over Campbell on Tuesday afternoon at the Nisbet Tennis Center. With the victory, the Bucs are tied atop the A-Sun standings with UNF, while moving a game ahead of Campbell.
The Bucs move to 13-6 overall on the season and more important 7-1 in the A-Sun, with just two conference matches remaining. ETSU has now won four straight matches and its last six A-Sun contests. Campbell falls to 13-3 overall and 5-2 in the A-Sun.
"The guys need to be reminded daily that no one is going to fold over and just let us win," said ETSU Director of Tennis Yaser Zaatini. "Even though we look strong on paper, the tennis ball bounces and we still need to hit it back. It is not like teams assume that we are going to win and our guys need to realize that."
The Bucs opened up doubles play strong early as the duo of Sander Gille (Kuringen, Belgium) and Jesus Bandres (Caracas, Venezuela) defeated Fernando Guillen and David Clavera, 8-4, at the No. 2 position. Gille and Bandres have now won nine straight matches and lead the team with 13 victories.
Campbell evened up doubles play as Davy Sum and Dominik Kaniewski picked up a victory at the No. 1 position. The doubles point came down to the No. 3 position as each side battled back and forth through much of the match. The Campbell team of Larbi Lamzouri and Josep Baro finally edged Juan Ramirez (Asuncion, Paraguay) and Robin Akser (Ornskoldsvik, Sweden), 9-8, to clinch the doubles point.
"We started a little slow in doubles," added Zaatini. "The doubles came down to execution and it was not a lack of intensity, but we just couldn't put the ball away at the right time. We were up a break and serving at 6-5 (at No. 3), but the guys just didn't execute and give Campbell credit for putting the ball in play, but I think we gift wrapped that one for them."
With Campbell in front 1-0, the Bucs quickly responded during the singles portion of the match. ETSU evened the match after Bandres defeated Guillen, 6-1, 6-3, at the No. 3 position. Bandres earned his fourth consecutive singles victory, while leading the team with 11 wins.
The Bucs took the lead after freshman Roger Ordeig (Gurb, Spain) defeated Baro in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0. Ordeig is now an impressive 8-1 in dual singles play and a perfect 7-0 in A-Sun play.
ETSU picked up its third straight singles victory of the afternoon at the No. 2 position as Gille defeated Lamzouri, 6-3, 7-6.
After Sum remained perfect on the season at the No. 1 position by defeating ETSU senior Grega Teraz (Mojstrana, Slovenia), the Bucs closed out the match as Ramirez defeated Clavera, 7-6, 7-5, at the No. 5 position. Ramirez has now won his tenth singles match of the season.
ETSU also picked up a victory at the No. 4 position to close out the afternoon as senior Charles Bottoni (Bois Guillaume, France) earned a hard fought, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, victory over Kaniewski. Bottoni has now won seven straight matches, while picking up his tenth win of the spring.
"The guys came back after losing the doubles point and they fought hard in singles play and gave a great effort," said Zaatini. "We will be back in Johnson City late tonight and have a practice tomorrow afternoon before hitting the road again on Thursday."
The Bucs hit the road for their final two regular season A-Sun contests beginning on Friday at Kennesaw State. The team will then take on Mercer, Saturday afternoon. Friday's match will begin at 3:00 p.m., while Saturday's match will start at 12 noon.
For more information on the ETSU men's tennis team please go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's tennis link. Also, be sure to follow ETSU Athletics on Facebook and Twitter.
ETSU 5, Campbell 2
Singles
1. #112 Davy Sum (CAM) def. Grega Teraz (ETSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
6. Roger Ordeig (ETSU) def. Josep Baro (CAM) 6-3, 6-0
Doubles
Match Notes:
ETSU 13-6, 7-1 A-Sun
Campbell 13-3, 5-2 A-Sun
Singles Order of Finish: 3, 6, 2, 1, 5, 4
Doubles Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
