The Buccaneer men’s tennis team will begin match play in the Southern Conference Tournament Thursday, looking to senior Gustavo Gomez to continue his hot play that has led the Bucs all season.
Gomez, last year’s Southern Conference Player of the Year, has had a tremendous season that has included a 25-10 singles record and a 21-match winning streak, which was only recently snapped by Chattanooga’s Jason Ontog last Saturday, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Gomez, who is a four-time All Conference selection (3 singles, 1 doubles), will lead the Bucs at the No. 1 singles spot into the conference tournament, where the “main goal is win as a team,” he said.
“To win the tournament is our main goal,” Gomez said. “I want to win as a team, then if I win my matches to help the team it will be much better.”
The Bucs last won the conference tournament in 1999 and were the top seed in last year’s tournament, but were upset in the semifinals by Chattanooga, 4-3.
Gomez will look to help the Bucs win back the conference crown and advance to the NCAA Championships, which they last reached in 1999.
“If we win the (conference) tournament we get to go to the NCAAs,” Gomez said. “I think if we get to go to the NCAAs we can do really good.”
In the Bucs last appearance at the national championships they lost, 4-0, in the first round of the tournament to the University of Kentucky, which was ranked 13th in the nation.
Gomez attributes much of his success this season to a lighter class load that has allowed him extra time to concentrate and practice his tennis game.
“This year I’m only taking six hours (of classes),” he said. “I’ve had more free time and have been able to practice extra time, working on my conditioning and with the coaches individually in the mornings.”
The Buccaneer senior, who was the 1999 conference tournament MVP, has been pleased with his success so far and the Bucs will need him to continue his hot steak if they are to get back to the top of the conference.
“I’m happy with the way I’m playing. I’m playing really good,” he said. “At the beginning I lost my first four matches and was a little disappointed, but I practiced harder and harder and finally got on a roll and have been able to play really good.”
The Argentina native will try to continue the roll on which he has been and help his team back to the NCAA Championships. That would be a perfect ending to a stellar collegiate career, a career that will proceed to the next level after graduation.
“I plan to take my rackets and go to Europe and see (what happens),” Gomez said.
His plan includes going to Europe over the summer and playing in France for a couple months and then staying to see how long he can make it playing tennis.
Gomez, a finance major in ETSU’s College of Business, does have a back-up plan if tennis does not work out.
“If I’m not doing good in tennis, I may come back in two years to get my MBA (Masters of Business Administration),” he said.
But first things first as Gomez and his teammates will go after another conference banner with the tournament being held April 19-22 in Charleston, S.C.

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