Saturday, March 28, 2009

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 28, 2009) -In the storied history of the ETSU men's tennis team the No. 60^th-ranked Bucs continued to add to its lure by honoring two of its finest players in the tradition of the program Saturday. Before the Bucs downed Atlantic Sun Conference rival Jacksonville, 4-0 inside the bubble at the Bristol Country Club in Bristol, Tenn., head coach Yaser Zaatini and the ETSU athletic department honored seniors Enrique Olivares (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) and Alex Ahlgren (Tyreso, Sweden) in both captains final home match of their outstanding four-year career.

"What more can I say about Alex and Enrique," said Zaatini. "Both guys have meant so much to this program and school and have honestly been a joy to be around and coach. When you have special players like this representing ETSU it really makes you feel something exceptional inside. To sit here today and watch Alex after he won his singles match walk off the court looking down at that Buccaneer logo on the front of his shirt, smiling and tapping his chest and heart really shows you the passion these guys have. You spend a whole lifetime getting to this level and have four years of practice and matches and I just want to thank both Enrique and Alex for the opportunity to watch them become outstanding tennis players, but more importantly outstanding men."

As the match opened ETSU took the early 1-0 lead, after taking two out of the three doubles contests. The Buc team of freshman Robin Akser (Ornskoldsvik, Sweden) and Daniel Isaza (Medellin, Columbia) destroyed JU's Jordi Ballester and Marcos Oliveria, 8-1, while the sophomore team of Grega Teraz (Mojstrana, Slovenia) and Charles Bottoni (Bois Guillaume, France) closed out the pairs portion of the match dropping Murilo Souza and Victor Vaz, 8-2.

ETSU (6-7, 5-0 A-Sun) extended its advantage as the two men of honor Alex Ahlgren and Enrique Olivares completely dominated both of their singles matches winning in straight sets. Ahlgren dropped Marcos Oliveria in No. 5 singles action 6-0, 6-0, while the No. 11-ranked Olivares dropped Jordi Ballester, 6-0, 6-1, in No. 1 singles play giving the Bucs a three point lead.

With the Bucs then needing only one more win to clinch the match, ETSU newcomer Grega Teraz closed out his contest by dropping Victor Vaz in a thrilling two-set victory 7-5, 6-3.

The nationally ranked Bucs will now look to extend its 28 match A-Sun winning streak as they return to action against league foe Mercer Monday at the LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center in Mercer, Ga.

Attached above is the final results of today's contest with Jacksonville. 

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