The ETSU men’s tennis team (5-7, 1-0) opened conference play Saturday against UNC-Greensboro (6-7, 0-3). Coming off a tough away loss to No. 5 Georgia, ETSU looked to rebound against an experienced UNCG.
After defeating the Georgia doubles team in the No. 2 slot, Robert Herrera and Ismael Merino picked up their fifth straight win on Saturday.
ETSU took wins in the No. 1 and No. 2 singles. Connor Huertas battled a tie-breaker at the end of the No. 3 singles match, conceding to UNCG.
However, ETSU was able to close out the remaining matches for their first Southern Conference win.
The Bucs came out on top early with a win by David Biosca in singles play.
Biosca managed to take the first set, 7-6, a loss in the second 2-6 and then a tiebreaker win in the third set.
The only loss of the match in singles play came from Huertas who fought hard in the second set but lost, 7-6.
ETSU is a young team, but still a team that is returning from a perfect 7-0 regular season record in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
This being the team’s first year in the SoCon, ETSU looks to make a name for itself and with a 6-1 victory over a UNCG team that made the semi-finals in last year’s conference tournament, it did just that.
The next match is set against Wofford (8-6, 2-0).
Wofford, which is coming off a four-game winning streak, will be a tough conference opponent as well.
Wofford is 2-0 in the SoCon, and has proven to be a contender for this year’s SoCon crown.
