Thursday, July 18, 2002

Johnson City, Tenn. (July 18, 2002) - East Tennessee State's men's tennis team has been named an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Team for the spring 2002 season. The award is open to any ITA program, NCAA or NAIA, that has a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale). Six Buccaneer players had GPA's of over 3.60 - Marcos Pavlovich (Otamendi, Argentina), Roberto Fernandez (Cuernavaca, Mexico), Francisco Diaz (Weston, Fla.), Diego Iglesias (Mar del Plata, Argentina), Moises Serrano (Bucaramanga, Colombia) and Federico Ochoa (Manizales, Colombia). "I'm very proud of what our players accomplished this year," head coach Dave Mullins said. "The fact that they performed so outstanding in the classroom while winning a Southern Conference championship and playing in the NCAA's speaks about their dedication to excellence in all areas." Under Mullins ETSU advanced to its second-ever NCAA Tournament after winning its sixth Southern Conference championship. The Buccaneers posted a 9-1 record in the SoCon and 17-8 mark overall and were ranked 68th in NCAA Division I by the ITA before being ousted by 13th ranked Auburn in the NCAA Tournament.