The spring season is underway for the Bucs.
The sports that will be in full effect this spring season at East Tennessee State University will be men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s track and field teams.
The basketball season for both teams began in early November and could go on until March. So far, the men’s team is 14-5 overall and 4-2 in the conference.
Last season the men’s record was 24-12 and 14-4 in the conference. The next game for the men’s team will be Wednesday, Jan. 25 at Samford. The women’s record is currently 11-9 overall and 3-2 in the conference. They ended the season 16-14 overall and 8-6 in the conference last year. The women are coming off a 76-57 win over Western Carolina on Saturday and they will play Furman on Thursday.
Both golf teams have competed in invitationals and tournaments since the fall but will continue to compete throughout the spring. The men will compete in The Prestige at PGA West on Feb. 20 to kick off their spring season and the women kick theirs off at Kiawah Spring Invitational on Feb. 26. Last season the men tied for seventh in the NCAA Regionals and the women ended third out of nine in the Southern Conference Championships.
After ending last season with an overall record of 20-22 and 9-9 in the conference, the softball team will begin the 2017 season on Feb. 10. They will be competing against North Carolina A&T at the Gardner-Webb Tournament.
Men’s tennis kicked off their spring season on Jan. 14 against Wake Forest where they were defeated 6-1 and on Jan. 16 faced Alabama where they were defeated 4-2. The next match for the men will be on Saturday, Jan. 28 against USC in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
Last season, the men and women’s tennis teams made it to NCAA Tournament after sweeping the competition in the Southern Conference Tournament. However, the men were defeated 4-3 to Michigan and the women fell short 4-0 to North Carolina.
The women’s tennis team started their season this past Saturday at Virginia Tech where they fell short to Virginia Tech 5-2. The next day they went head to head against Troy where they won 4-3 The next match will be on Feb. 4 versus Liberty.
The men and women’s track and field team hit the road running. Both teams started their season on Jan. 13 with the two day ETSU Track and Field Invitational where three Bucs claimed first place and 12 athletes came in top-5 finishes. Both teams also competed in the Hokie Invitational this past weekend where there was one first place finish and two top-5 finishes.
The next tournament will be the Buccaneer Track & Field Invitational on Feb. 2.
