Saturday, February 08, 2003

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 8, 2003) -- 16th-ranked Tennessee defeated No. 74 ETSU 6-1 Saturday at UT's Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center. The victory improved Tennessee's record to 5-0 this season, while the Buccaneers fall to 2-3. ETSU's three losses this season have all been against top-25 opponents. The Vols (5-0) began the match by sweeping all three doubles contests. The No. 1 tandem of Mark Henderson and Simon Rea led the way by defeating the nation's No. 45-ranked doubles team of Diego Iglesias (Mar del Plata, Argentina) and Alejandro Salazar (Arequipa, Peru).  In singles competition, ETSU managed to make things interesting by stealing the first set in Nos. 2 and 5 singles, and capturing a win at the No. 3 spot.   Simon Rea, the nation's No. 27-ranked singles player, struggled early against ETSU captain Marcos Pavlovich (Otamendi, Argentina), but outplayed the Buccaneer lefty in the decisive third set. Rea's win clinched the victory for Tennessee, and improved his overall season singles mark to a team-best 15-3.   ETSU will play its first home match of the 2003 season on Feb. 22, when the Bucs host No. 66 Alabama-Birmingham.   #16 Tennessee 6, ETSU 1 Singles 1) No. 56 Mark Dietrich (UT) def. Diego Iglesias (ETSU), 6-3, 6-4 2) No. 27 Simon Rea (UT) def. Marcos Pavlovich (ETSU), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 3) Francisco Diaz (ETSU) def. Mark Henderson (UT), 7-5, 7-6(5) 4) Wade Orr (UT) def. Alejandro Salazar (ETSU), 6-3, 6-2 5) Vincent Perna (UT) def. Moises Serrano (ETSU), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 6) Rawl Martin (UT) def. Fernando Fiuri (ETSU), 7-6(3), 6-1 Doubles 1) Henderson/Rea (UT) def. No. 45 Iglesias/Salazar (ETSU), 8-5 2) Dietrich/Orr (UT) def. Diaz/Serrano (ETSU), 8-2 3) Martin/Perna (UT) def. Fiuri/Pavlovich (ETSU), 8-5