ASHEVILLE N.C. – The ETSU Men’s Tennis squad had a strong showing against UNC Asheville with a 6-1 win on the road.
The Bucs have been riding momentum recently, winning eight of their last nine matches, with their last loss coming from No. 41 ranked Louisiana in mid-February. Since then, the Bucs have gone undefeated winning their last five. Four of those victories have been on the road.
UNC Asheville entered the day with a (7-1) record and a three-game win streak on the line.
The No. 74 ranked Bucs hoped to keep their streak alive against a strong UNC Asheville, and that was exactly what they did.
For the ninth time in as many tries, the Bucs earned consecutive doubles points, when the No. 1 position of Frazier Rengifo (Cali, Colombia) and Hugo Lobo (Toulon, France) won their match 6-4 and were followed by the No. 2 squad of Dimitri Badra (Maracay, Veneuela) and Juan Jose Vargas (North Santander, Colombia) and their 7-5 victory.
Yusuf Khamis (Cairo, Egypt) earned the first singles point for the Bucs with a 6-3, 6-3 win. Khamis was followed by Badra’s 6-4, 6-2 singles victory.
Rengifo clinched the day for the Bucs when he defeated UNC Asheville’s Harry Thursfield 6-4, 6-4 to put the Bucs up 4-0.
The Bucs won two more matches that day. The only loss for the Bucs in singles play came in the No. 6 position between Juan Lombisano (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Quinn Fender of UNC Asheville, 7-6, 6-4. The Bucs also dropped the No. 3 doubles matchup between Khamis/Lombisano and Rafa/Bruno Serra 6-4.
The Bucs seem to be hitting all of their marks on the court and will return home for a weekend of matches between Lipscomb on March 11, and Gardner-Webb on March 13.
