Knock Out! Bears Slay Perennial SoCon Champ ETSU

Thursday, March 27

Macon, Ga.

2 p.m.

Mercer University

East Tennessee State

Knock Out! Bears Slay Perennial SoCon Champ ETSU

3/27/2025 5:54:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

MACON – Mercer yielded just four games in sweeping through doubles competition, and then picked up three victories in singles play, including tight triumphs on Court Nos. 1 and 2, to take down 9-time defending Southern Conference champion East Tennessee State, 4-3, on Thursday at the LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center.

The victory gave Mercer (7-6, 2-0 SoCon) a 2-0 start in conference play for the third-straight season, while also marking MU's second-straight home win in the series with the Bucs as well. It was just the third league loss in the last 11 seasons for East Tennessee State (8-6, 2-1) who fell to 65-3 against league rivals since the 2014 campaign.

Mercer got the day started by breezing through doubles competition. Marceau Fouilhoux and Nemanja Stefanovic blanked ETSU's tandem of Juan Andres Listo and Francisco Lamas at No. 2 doubles, and the hosts clinched the key doubles point minutes later when Howell Burns and Esteban Davila Gasser finished off a 6-1 win on Court No. 3.

Amen Prince Gandonou and Hod'Abalo Isak Padio made it a clean sweep in the feature doubles matchup with a 6-3 triumph over Martin Garcia-Ripoll and Peter Kalocsai.

East Tennessee State notched wins in three of the first four completed singles matchups to surge ahead, 3-2, on the team scoreboard, but it was all Orange & Black after that. Padio toughed out a 7-5, 7-5 win over Garcia-Ripoll at No. 2 singles to even things up, and Stefanovic finished off a 6-4, 7-5 ouster in the feature singles match to deliver the match-clincher.

Mercer is back in action again on Saturday when it road trips to Charleston, S.C., to lock horns with conference rival The Citadel (4-21, 0-4) at the Earle Tennis Center. First serves are scheduled for 3 p.m.