Sixteenth-ranked Tennessee defeated No. 74 ETSU 6-1 Saturday at UT’s Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center. The victory improved Tennessee’s record to 5-0 this season, while the Buccaneers fell to 2-3. ETSU’s three losses this season have all been against top-25 opponents.
The Vols (5-0) began the match by sweeping all three doubles contests. The No. 1 tandem of Mark Henderson and Simon Rea led the way by defeating the nation’s No. 45-ranked doubles team of Diego Iglesias and Alejandro Salazar.
In singles competition, ETSU managed to make things interesting by stealing the first set in Nos. 2 and 5 singles and captured a win at the No. 3 spot.
Simon Rea, the nation’s No. 27-ranked singles player, struggled early against ETSU captain Marcos Pavlovich, but outplayed the Buccaneer lefty in the decisive third set. Rea’s win clinched the victory for Tennessee, and improved his overall season singles mark to a team-best 15-3.
ETSU’s men will play its first home match of the 2003 season on Feb. 22, when the Bucs host No. 66 Alabama-Birmingham.
Also on Saturday, ETSU’s women fell, 6-1, at Campbell University.
Kerstin Stockinger defeated freshman Sylwia Ziolkowska 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 singles. At No. 2 singles, Campbell’s Pascale Veraverbeke defeated Gemma Halim 6-4, 4-6 (10-5). Carmen Linder defeated Jessica Irey 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3 singles. Isabel Declercq defeated Buc junior Courtney McInnis 6-1, 6-0 at the No. 4 position. Ingrid Stockinger defeated Tatiana Arriaran 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) at the No. 5 spot. Buc freshman, Jewel Aldea defeated Lindsey Hughes, 6-4, 6-1 at the No. 6 spot for ETSU’s only victory of the day.
The Camels swept the three doubles matches with K. Stockinger and Linder defeating Ziolkowska and McInnis, 8-1. Veraverbeke and Declercq defeated Halim and Irey, 9-7 and I. Stockinger and Hughes defeated Arriaran and Aimee Villavicencio, 8-4.
The Bucs will play their first home matches of the season Saturday. ETSU will take on Carson-Newman and North Greenville College, with the first match beginning at 9 a.m.
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