The ETSU men’s and women’s tennis teams competed in their first tournament of the 2019-20 season over the weekend. The men traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the Chattanooga Invite, while the women traveled to Elon, North Carolina.
Since this is their first tournament of the season, the nerves may have been a little high.
“There’s always gonna be pressure in the tournament,” says senior Miguel Este (Caracas, Venezuela) “It doesn’t matter if you are a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior, there is always going to be pressure.”
The women’s team left the 2018-2019 season with an overall record of 13-11 and a conference record of 6-1, while the men finished with an overall record of 20-5 and an undefeated conference record of 7-0.
The men placed first in the 2018-19 SoCon championship, but lost to South Carolina 4-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The women placed second in the conference coming up short behind Furman in a 4-2 loss in the SoCon Tournament.
The team got back on the courts for practice last week, so they have been adjusting and getting used to one another.
“I always go out there and play, coach always helps us to control the pressure and help us do our best,” Este said.
Coach Martin Stiegwardt is excited for the season because he thinks that some of the boys could get into rankings this year.
“We have a really good team, pretty similar to last year’s team, which is good because we won the conference,” said Este.
Something that Este is looking forward to is getting out on the courts to enjoy the game since this is the last year of his college career.
Senior Chris Mikrovas (Athens, Greece), sophomore Dimitri Badra (Maracay, Venezuela), and Este were playing singles in this weekend’s tournament for the men. Badra and Este were also playing doubles together.
For the women, sophomore Raquel Amaro (Caracas, Venezuela), sophomore Yunuen Elizarraras (Cuernavaca, Mexico), freshman Maria Carvajal (unknown), junior Alejandra Morales (Santiago, Chile) and senior Andrea Pascual (Basauri, Spain) were playing singles. Morales/Amaro and Carvajal/Pascual were competing in doubles.
After this weekend’s events, the women are back on the road for the Mercer Gridiron Classic on Friday, Sept. 20, through Sunday, Sept. 22, while the men attend the USC Invitational.
