SPARTANBURG, S.C. – ETSU’s Thiago Pernas has been named the Southern Conference men’s tennis player of the week for all matches played from Jan. 14-16, the conference announced on Tuesday. The weekly award is the first one of the season.
 
Pernas went 1-0 at No. 1 singles and 1-0 at No. 1 doubles as ETSU dropped its opening two matches of the spring season.
 
The junior from Buenos Aires, Argentina, opened his 2023 campaign Saturday with a 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (10-4) win over Mississippi State’s top player, Nemanja Malesevic, to grab the Bucs’ lone point against the Bulldogs. Pernas and doubles partner Peter Kalocsai were leading Ewen Lumsden and Michal Novansky 4-3 at No. 2 when homestanding Mississippi State clinched the point and the match was abandoned.
 
In Sunday’s 4-0 loss against South Alabama, also in Starkville, Mississippi, Pernas and Kalocsai moved up to No. 1 doubles and topped Jack Clements and Louis Delcour, the 16^th-ranked duo in the nation, 6-4. Pernas, who earned Most Outstanding Player honors at last season’s SoCon Men’s Tennis Championship, was facing No. 123 Sebastien Collard at No. 1 singles when USA clinched the match. Pernas won the first set 7-5 and Collard won the second set 7-5 and was up 1-0 in the third when the match was abandoned.
 
The weekly award is the first of Pernas’s career.
 
ETSU (0-2) returns to action Saturday at Clemson for a noon contest.
 
Also nominated: Hayden Shoemake (The Citadel) and Max Graham (Wofford).
 
SoCon Men’s Tennis Players of the Week
Jan. 17          Thiago Pernas, ETSU