Wednesday, April 15, 2009

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 15, 2009) - With the 2009 Atlantic Sun Conference tournament set to swing into action tomorrow, the league office released its annual postseason all-conference selections Wednesday night and the No. 57-ranked ETSU men's tennis team should have a lot to be proud of.

After leading the Bucs to its fourth straight A-Sun regular season title and a perfect 8-0 record in conference action, No. 14-ranked senior Enrique Olivares (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) added to his award case repeating as the 2009 A-Sun Player of the Year. The four-time A-Sun First-Team member and now two-time Player of the Year, had an outstanding season posting a remarkable 29-9 singles record, while picking up wins against 11 ITA ranked teams and five ranked top-25 singles players. Overall, the senior captain has left his mark on the league setting numerous single season and career records including the highest ever ranking by a A-Sun player in the history of the conference at No. 9 in January.

Joining Olivares as an all-conference selection was sophomore Grega Teraz (Mojstrana, Slovenia), and senior Alex Ahlgren (Tyreso, Sweden), who both  earned second-team honors, while junior Daniel Isaza (Medellin, Columbia) and Robin Akser (Ornskoldsvik, Sweden), were named as the conference's best No. 3 doubles tandem for 2009.

Rounding out the player awards for ETSU was Akser and fellow freshman Sander Gille (Kuringen, Belgium), who was awarded honors on the A-Sun all-freshmen team. Gille, who played No. 2 singles for the Bucs, rolled to a 17-11 singles mark, picking up wins over No. 33 Minnesota, No. 62 MTSU, No. 3 Georgia, No. 29 Wisconsin and No. 36 North Carolina. Not to be outdone Akser finished the regular season with an impressive 13-7 head-to-head record, while along with teammate Danny Isaza, led the team in doubles wins at 15.

After losing four seniors off of last year's remarkable team that not only won both A-Sun titles, but upset Norte Dame in the first round of the NCAA tournament, head coach Yaser Zaatini responded by leading ETSU through one of the toughest schedules in the entire nation. After coaching the Bucs to its sixth straight unbeaten conference season and wins over four ITA ranked teams Zaatini was honored for the second straight season as the A-Sun Coach of the Year.

Overall, Zaatini's club rolled past every A-Sun member outscoring its conference opponents 49-8. Since joining the A-Sun the Bucs are 49-1 all-time with its one loss coming against Belmont in 2006.

Attached above is the 2009 A-Sun All-Conference selections.

For more information on the ETSU men's tennis program please visit www.ETSUBucs.com