Thursday, April 02, 2009

MACON, Ga.- Three teams remain undefeated in men's tennis conference play, and those teams will meet this weekend with the regular season title on the line. ETSU faces Stetson today in DeLand, Fla. while USC Upstate sees the Hatters on Saturday.

Just like it has done the past three seasons the ETSU men's tennis team has rolled through and over every Atlantic Sun Conference opponent its faced this season. Now after starting the year 6-0 in league play, the No. 59th-ranked Bucs will face its toughness test to date as they travel to conference rival Stetson for a 3:30 p.m., contest Thursday at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center in Deland, Fla.

ETSU (8-7, 6-0 A-Sun) enters the contest with the Hatters after dominating all three of its matches last week. The Bucs made quick work of A-Sun members North Florida, Jacksonville and Mercer outscoring its three conference opponents 14-1. Overall, ETSU boast the highest singles, doubles and team ranking, in the ITA, among A-Sun members and is currently riding a 29-match league winning streak that dates back to April 14, 2006.

Stetson (16-4, 7-0) enters the contest after staying unbeaten in A-Sun action dropping Kennesaw State 4-0, Monday night. The Hatters have had an outstanding season joining ETSU in the ITA national rankings for most of the spring at No. 73. Individually, Stetson is led by Casare Gallo –who is 12-4 in singles – and teammates Filip Kricka and Maksim Levanonvich who boast a 12-3 doubles record.

Overall, the Bucs have outscored the Hatters 25-3 and leads the all-time series 5-0. In their last meeting ETSU eliminated Stetson during the 2008 A-Sun tournament semifinals, 4-0 at the Buddy Hartsell Tennis Center last April.

USC Upstate junior Javier Tori is one win shy of career school records in both singles and combined wins, having posted 56 singles wins and 118 combined wins. USC Upstate has fallen out of the latest ITA Division I rankings after spending two weeks in the top 75, reaching No. 71 on March 24, the Spartans still have both a singles player and doubles pair amongst the individual rankings.

The weight of next Tuesday's showdown with ETSU will not truly be known until after this weekend, but like Upstate, the Bucs have perfect records on both the men's and women's sides of the net. The 2 p.m. match could be the most significant match in school history if both ETSU and Upstate's teams sweep their respective trips to FGCU and Stetson this weekend.