The Bucs had their first home match of the season over the weekend against Tennessee Tech. ETSU was coming off a convincing win against William and Mary just a week prior, winning that match 4-1 to give them three wins on the season.
On the other hand, Tennessee Tech had a lackluster beginning to the season, dropping their first five games. Tennessee Tech won their last two leading up into the matchup against ETSU.
Robert Herrera (Barcelona, Spain) and Sergi Fontcuberta (Barcelona, Spain) were first to win their singles matches, giving ETSU an early lead of 2-0, and with plenty of time to rest up for their doubles match.
The third singles match pitted Juan Lugo (Maracay, Venezuela) against former teammate Wenceslao Albin (Salliquelo, Argentina) who transferred to Tennessee Tech at the end of last season.
Last year for the Bucs, Albin went 6-1 in doubles against SoCon opponents, and 8-11 in singles to help lead ETSU to the SoCon championship. Now, Albin was on the other side of the net.
Lugo is coming into his second year on the ETSU squad and went 5-4 overall and 4-1 against SoCon teams in singles his freshman year. Albin has an extra year of experience on him, and it was apparent during their match.
The first set was hard fought, with Lugo keeping it close the entire stretch, but Albin eventually got the win, ending the set 7-5. The next games were not quite as close. Albin won the second set 6-2, earning him the overall win.
Fortunately for the Bucs, that was the last point Tennessee Tech would have for the day. ETSU won the remaining singles matches, and went undefeated in doubles.
The final score of the day was a convincing 6-1 victory for ETSU. This win comes right before the beginning of conference play, giving the Bucs a boost of confidence as they begin to face SoCon rivals.
The Bucs will go against UNC-Greensboro at the Bristol Racquet Club on Saturday, before heading south to face Samford on March 2.
