MACON, Ga. – The FGCU Men's and Women's Tennis team's were picked to finish eighth in the Atlantic Sun by the league's head coaches the A-Sun office announced on Wednesday.

The ETSU men’s squad brings a 25-match regular-season conference winning streak into the 2009 season. In three seasons in the Atlantic Sun, ETSU’s only loss to a conference opponent came to Belmont in the semifinals of the 2006 A-Sun Championships. Since that tournament loss, the Bucs have won their last six tournament matches by 4-0 counts.

Stetson, the tournament runner-up in each of the last three seasons nabbed four first place votes to take second in the poll, while Campbell, UNF and USC Upstate rounded out the top five.

On the women’s side, the Lady Bucs collected five first-place votes to narrowly edge out Stetson by a single point. ETSU, a tournament finalist in each of its three Atlantic Sun seasons, hopes to reclaim the A-Sun Championship after falling to Jacksonville in the finals each of the past two seasons.

Second-place Stetson aims to unseat the Lady Bucs after seeing its last three seasons end at their hands; the past two years in the semifinal round. Two-time defending tournament champion Jacksonville notched 96 points for a third-place projection, while defending regular season champion USC Upstate tallied 92 to finish fourth. The Spartans finished their first Atlantic Sun season with a perfect 11-0 mark. UNF rounded out the top five with 72 points.

The coaches also selected a pair of ETSU players as preseason Players of the Year with defending A-Sun Player of the Year and Tournament MVP Enrique Olivares winning the honor on the men’s side and junior Yevgeniya Stupak earning the award for the women.

Olivares started the fall season ranked No. 31 in the country, and put together an outstanding fall campaign, which included going 15-3 in singles play. In his final tournament of the fall the 2008 All-American outlasted 24 of the top ITA singles players at the prestigious ITA National Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va. Also during the fall campaign Olivares took top honors at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens, Ga., defeating preseason fourth-ranked Bruno Agostinelli of Kentucky in the finals. Olivares opens the spring schedule as the ninth-ranked singles player in the country.

Stupak started the season ranked No. 63 in the nation, and finished off the fall with a 12-3 record and three tournament titles. The two-time First-Team All-Atlantic Sun honoree took home the title at the UNC-Chapel Hill/Kitty Harrison Invitational, defeating defending A-Sun Player of Year Anna Novo 6-1, 6-1 en route to the title. She opens the spring season ranked 15th in the Southeast Region.

The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.

 

 

MEN’S RESULTS

 

Place	School (First Place Votes)	Pts
1.	ETSU (7)	116
2.	Stetson (4)	112
3.	Campbell	88
4.	USC Upstate	79
5.	UNF	77
6.	Jacksonville	67
7.	Belmont	59
8.	FGCU	53
9.	Mercer	39
10.	Kennesaw State	27
11.	Lipscomb	18

 

Tournament Champion: ETSU

Player of the Year: Enrique Olivares (ETSU)

 

 

WOMEN’S RESULTS

 

Place	School (First Place Votes)	Pts
1.	ETSU (5)	110
2.	Stetson (4)	109
3.	Jacksonville	96
4.	USC Upstate (2)	92
5.	UNF	72
6.	Campbell	63
7.	Kennesaw State	47
8.	FGCU	46
9.	Belmont	44
10.	Mercer	28
11.	Lipscomb	18

 

Tournament Champion: ETSU

Player of the Year: Yevgeniya Stupak (ETSU)