East Tennessee State University Team Page
ATHENS, Ga. (Sept. 21, 2009) – After a third straight day of rain contiuned to inflict disorder at the 49th annual Southern Intercollegiate, the ETSU men’s tennis team overcome both a tough field and the weather for mulitple victories Sunday inside the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
“What a weekend,” said head coach Yaser Zaatini. “Going into this tournament we expected to play a lot of our guys multiple times and over the last three days the weather just wouldn’t stay away. That being said I’m extremely proud of each player’s effort and toughness. Some of the matches didn’t even start to 11 p.m., or later and for our players to pull through says a lot about their character.”
Overall, with a field of participants from 32 schools including notable ranked programs Duke, Florida, Georgia Tech, Middle Tennessee, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and host Georgia, ETSU picked up seven wins.
Leading the way for the Buc was junior Grega Teraz (Mojstrana, Slovenia), who advanted to the Round of 16 after picking up his second victory in Division I Flight action. The ETSU upperclassman reventaged a pair of 2009 losses to No. 16-seeded Matteo Fago, dropping the Tennessee junior 7-5, 6-2.
With the win, Teraz advanced to Monday’s quarterfinal contest against ITA ranked No. 5 Guillermo Gomez of Georgia Tech, however due to the push backed schedule the match was cancelled.
“Grega had a productive tournament,” said Zaatini. “I would have loved to see him play one of the best players in the country Monday, however with the weather situation we simply didn’t have the time. I think his match Sunday against Fago was one that should build his confidence even further. Grega stepped-up at the right time and I’m extremely stasified with his ability to get a win against top-ranked program player in Fago.”
Also in action for the Bucs Sunday was sophomore Sander Gille (Kuringen, Belguim). After his initial outdoor start time of 9:00 a.m., was pushed back to 1:30 p.m., inside the Magill Tennis Complex, Gille dropped a tough two-set contest to Tennessee’s Boris Conkic – ITA No. 20 – 6-2, 7-6 (3).
Meanwhile, after taking care of A-Sun rival Victor Dias of Mercer, junior Charles Bottoni (Bois Guillaume, France) advanced to the Division II Flight Round of 16, where he would have taken on South Alabama’s Dauw Kruger. However like his Buccaneer teammates, Bottoni’s match was cancelled due to the weather delay.
“Charley has played some of his best tennis at ETSU this fall,” Zaatini said. “In each of his matches I’ve been exceptionally pleased with how he’s got better and better each time he’s taken the court. I’ve always known he’s been a player with great ability, but in tennis you have to be able to stay in matches mentally. Now it seems like he’s settled down and regained that confidence back.”
Closing out the scores for ETSU was senior Daniel Isaza (Medellin, Colombia). After picking up a long three-set victory over Austin Roebuck of Georgia Tech, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 1-0 (12), the Buccaneer captain’s quarterfinal match with Matt Poleon of Mercer was rescinded.
After two tournaments the Bucs will hope for better weather as they return to action October 2nd at the UTC Invitational in Chattanooga.
Attached above is the final results and draws of the nation's oldest fall collegiate tournament.
For more information on the three-time defending A-Sun champion men’s tennis team please visit ETSUBucs.com.
