DeLand, Fla. - Second-seeded ETSU (16-6) captured its fifth consecutive Atlantic Sun Conference men's tennis tournament championship on Saturday with a hard-fought 4-2 win over fourth-seeded host Stetson (20-10) at Mandy Stoll Tennis Center. A-Sun All-Tournament Team honoree Sander Gille won in singles and doubles for the Bucs, who have won all five titles with finals victories over the Hatters. ETSU #1 singles player Grega Teraz claimed A-Sun Tournament MVP honors.
Stetson claimed the doubles point to start the nearly four-hour match as the pairs of Njal Stene/Chris Swanteson and Alex Hackett/Hans Adrian Riseng each won 8-5 to offset an 8-5 ETSU win on Court 2.
Just as they did in the semifinals against Campbell, the Bucs shook off the loss of the doubles point with four straight-set singles victories, getting wins from Gille (6-0, 6-4 over Stene on Court 2), Roger Ordeig (6-1, 6-1 over Riseng on Court 6), Teraz (6-1, 6-0 on Court 1 over Maksim Levanovich) and finally Juan Ramirez in a tense 7-6, 7-5 Court 5 win over Hackett to clinch the championship. Stetson's Cesare Gallo led ETSU's Charles Bottoni in the third set when the Ramirez point was achieved; their match was truncated.
A-SUN ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Grega Teraz - ETSU (MVP)
Sander Gille - ETSU
Juan Ramirez - ETSU
Cesare Gallo - Stetson
Maksim Levanovich - Stetson
Moritz Buerchner - UNF
