JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (March 16, 2012) – The ETSU men’s tennis team got the Atlantic Sun season underway with a perfect 7-0 sweep of Jacksonville on Friday at the Keith Watson Family Tennis Center.

The sweep was ETSU’s (3-8, 1-0 A-Sun) first of the season as the Bucs extended their winning streak to three by earning their first road win of the year. Jacksonville (2-10, 0-1 A-Sun) saw its losing streak lengthen to eight after being handed its second 7-0 sweep of the season – its other coming Feb. 19 against Florida Atlantic.

“The team played a solid match today,” Director of ETSU Tennis Yaser Zaatini said. “I thought we hit the ball well and competed well to put a convincing win together, but I still think we could play with a little more energy.”

The Bucs began the conference season by taking all three doubles matches to earn the doubles point. Seniors Sander Gille (Kuringen, Belgium) and Robin Akser (Ornskoldsvik, Sweden) improved to 4-1 as a duo this spring with an impressive 8-1 defeat of Matt Hansen and Richard Casagrande in the No. 1 match. Junior Juan Ramirez (Asuncion, Paraguay) and senior Jeremy Bonnevalle (Keerbergen, Belgium) took the No. 2 match with an 8-6 defeat of Fernando Bano Lopez and Jose Fantova, while junior Jesus Bandres (Caracas, Venezuela) and sophomore Jorge Varon (Valencia, Venezuela) won by the same score over Eimon Heywood and Eduardo Martinez to complete the sweep in the No. 3 match.

Singles play saw more of the same one-sided action.

Gille, Bandres, Ramirez, Ribeiro and Roger Ordeig (Gurb, Spain) all won in straight sets in the No. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 matches, respectively. Gille defeated Fantova 7-6, 6-3 to even up his spring record at 5-5, while the other four straight-set victories came in a more convincing fashion as Bandres defeated Lopez 6-2, 6-4; Ramirez defeated Casagrande 6-1, 6-2; Ribeiro defeated Heywood 6-2, 6-0; and Ordeig defeated Hensen 6-1, 6-0. Bonnevalle was the only Buccaneer to go three sets, but eventually took down Martinez 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-7).

ETSU returns to action on Saturday when it looks to avenge a 2011 A-Sun season opening loss to North Florida at the UNF Tennis Complex at 2 p.m.

For more information on ETSU tennis, please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the tennis links.