It wasn’t easy, but the No. 57-ranked ETSU men’s tennis team got it done again, winning a school-record third straight Atlantic Sun Conference title over Stetson 4-2 on Saturday at the Buddy Hartsell Tennis Center in Johnson City.
After tournament MVP Enrique Olivares, senior Alex Ahlgren and all-tournament honoree Sander Gille closed out their singles matches, all eyes turned to court five as freshman Robin Akser battled against Stetson’s Cesare Gallo.
After back-to-back deuce points and a close point being called out on the baseline, Akser would put Gallo away with a crushing forehand cross court for the match and championship.
After dropping its first doubles point of the conference season, ETSU responded as both Olivares and Ahlgren jumped out to quick first-set wins at No. 1 and No. 5. Olivares, the now three-time A-Sun MVP and Player of the Year, rolled past Stetson’s Fillip Kricka 6-0, while Ahlgren opened by taking the first frame 6-3 over Gokay Celik.
Just as it looked like ETSU was getting back on track, Stetson fought back as the Hatters’ Maksim Levanovich battled game-for-game at No. 3 with sophomore Grega Teraz and Njal Stene took the first set at No. 4 singles against junior Daniel Isaza.
Meanwhile with both Akser and Gille locked up with Mark Mestan and Gallo late in the first set, Fillip Kricka rallied back against Olivares on court one, taking the second-set tiebreaker 7-6 (7-4).
Even with Stetson still hanging tough at No. 1, the Bucs’ depth was starting to show as the Buccaneer role players began wearing down the Hatters at No. 2, No. 5 and No. 6.
After Gille closed out his first set with Mestan 6-4 and Akser took control with a strong 6-3 opening-set win, senior captain Alex Ahlgren continued to inch closer to his victory by taking a commanding 4-1 lead midway through his second set.
Then, with the momentum building and a record-breaking crowd around to watch history in the making, No. 13-ranked Olivares began to bounce back from his earlier defeat.
After splitting the first two sets with first-team all-conference member Kricka, Olivares regained his shot-making ability to breeze through the final set 6-0.
With ETSU now on the board, fellow captain Alex Ahlgren added to the Buccaneer advantage by closing out his final set 6-2.
As the ETSU edge began to grow, Sander Gillie found his rhythm, blowing past Mestan in the final frame 6-2 to stretch the Buccaneer lead to 3-1.
Stetson’s last hope came as Levanovich closed out Teraz at No. 3, 6-2, which set up Akser’s win at No. 5.
With the victory, the Bucs became the first A-Sun team to earn three consecutive titles since Central Florida won three straight from 2003 to 2005.
Also, with the ETSU women’s tennis team winning earlier in the day, ETSU becomes the first A-Sun school since Florida International (1994) to claim both the men’s and women’s championships in the same season.
ETSU will now wait for the NCAA’s 2009 Selection Show which will take place live Tuesday, April 28 on ESPNNews.
Both the single and doubles selections will be released a day later on Wednesday, April 29 through the NCAA Web site.

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