ETSU’s men’s tennis team earned a share of the 2003 Southern Conference championship after defeating Chattanooga 5-2 Friday afternoon indoors at Memorial Center.
It is the Buccaneers sixth regular season title and first since 2000, as ETSU wraps up the regular season with a 14-6 overall record and 8-1 mark in the SoCon.
The Bucs will take a No. 2 seed in the SoCon tournament, which starts Wednesday, due to College of Charleston’s 6-1 win over Georgia Southern Saturday.
“Every team that comes here doesn’t want to play us,” ETSU’s first-year head coach Yaser Zaatini said. “Chattanooga is a good team indoors, and they came ready to play.”
The Mocs (8-14, 4-4 SoCon) started out strong by capturing the doubles point rebounded with some strong singles play throughout the lineup. Chattanooga’s lone singles win came at the No. 2 flight, as the Buc’s Alejandro Salazar dropped a tough three-set match to John Hangstefer, 6-4, 6-7, 10-8. The loss snapped an eight-match winning streak for Salazar.
Senior captain Marcos Pavlovich pulled off a huge victory for ETSU at the No. 1 singles position by defeating nationally ranked Jason Ontog in three sets (6-3, 2-6, 6-3). Diego Iglesias also went the distance to knock off Thomas Knizat 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, at No. 3.
Newcomer Fernando Fiuri went undefeated in conference play with a perfect 9-0 record playing in the No. 4 slot following his 6-4, 6-1 win over Alex Mabred. Fiuri completed the regular season with a 14-5 mark overall and 14-2 at the No. 4 position. Moises Serrano defeated John Gamble at No. 5 singles (6-1, 6-2), while Federico Ochoa clinched the match with his 6-2, 7-6, victory over Tim Kutschera.
In doubles action, the No. 1 tandem of Pavlovich and Salazar picked up their eighth SoCon win of the season, defeating Ontog-Knizat by a score of 8-6. However, UTC’s duo of Kutschera and Hangstefer defeated Fiuri-Ochoa 8-6 at No. 3 doubles, before the Mocs’ Dustin Kane and Kyle True garnered an 8-4 win over Iglesias-Serrano at the No. 2 spot.
ETSU has now won its last eight matches, including 12 of its last 13 heading into the Southern Conference Men’s Tennis Championships. The tournament begins Wednesday and will be played at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C.

Author