Tuesday, January 14, 2003

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Jan. 14, 2003) -- East Tennessee State's men's tennis team has begun practicing for its upcoming spring season. The Buccaneers, who won the 2002 Southern Conference tournament and are coming off their second trip to the NCAA tournament in four years, will be under the direction of a new head coach for the 2003 season. Former assistant coach Yaser Zaatini will take over the head coaching position on an interim basis as Dave Mullins was recently been named ETSU's interim director of athletics. ETSU will be led by seniors Marcos Pavlovich (Otamendi, Argentina) and Francisco Diaz (Weston, Fla.), as well as last year's SoCon Tournament MVP Moises Serrano (Bucaramanga, Colombia) Other valuable returnees include Diego Iglesias (Mar del Plata, Argentina), Federico Ochoa (Manizales, Colombia), and Alejandro Salazar (Arequipa, Peru). The team kicks off its season with a tournment at Virginia Commonwealth on Jan. 24-25. The Bucs first home contest is versus Alabama-Birmingham on Feb. 22.