Feb. 2, 2006

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina men's tennis squad swept six singles matches and earned the doubles point to post a convincing 7-0 non-conference victory in its home opener over Mount Olive College Thursday afternoon at the ECU Tennis Complex.

The win snapped a two-match losing streak for the Pirates (4-2) while serving as a season-opening setback for the Trojans (0-1).

Sophomore Henrique Viana, who has opened the season playing at the No. 1 singles slot, set the tone by cruising to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Mount Olive's Gabriel Garcia. After freshman Aleksey Kochetov rallied back for a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 triumph over Bruno Capato at the No. 2 position, the Pirates closed out the match by recording four straight-set victories to seal their first home win of the season.

"Naturally, I'm happy with a win but more pleased with the progress we are making as a team," Pirates' head coach Shawn Heinchon said. "I thought we handled our first outdoor and home match of the season well. It's all about making adjustments and it appeared our guys did a nice job of handling that."

In additon to sophomore Ricardo Barone's 7-5, 7-5 decision over Guilherme Serra at No. 3, freshmen Brian Walters and Britton Steele posted victories over Mount Olive's Efrain Cayama and Lars Faber by 6-4, 6-3 and 6-1, 6-2 scores, respectively.

East Carolina used three consecutive doubles wins by tandems Barone/Viana (8-3), Rose/Walters (9-7) and Kochetov/Steele (8-4) to give the Pirates the doubles point and an early 1-0 lead prior to singles play.

After taking a week off, ECU will return to action Saturday, Feb. 11 when it travels to Charleston Southern for a 1:00 p.m. match.

EAST CAROLINA 7, MOUNT OLIVE 0
Singles Play
No. 1 - Henrique Viana (ECU) def. Gabriel Garcia (MOC); 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 - Aleksey Kochetov (ECU) def. Bruno Capato (MOC); 6-2, 2-6, 6-1
No. 3 - Ricardo Barone (ECU) def. Guilherme Serra (MOC); 7-5, 7-5
No. 4 - Nick Rose (ECU) def. Felipe Olarte (MOC); 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 - Brian Walters (ECU) def. Efrain Cayama (MOC); 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 - Britton Steele (ECU) def. Lars Faber (MOC); 6-1, 6-2
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Barone/Viana (ECU) def. Cayama/Garcia (MOC); 8-3
No. 2 - Rose/Walters (ECU) def. Capato/Serra (MOC); 9-7
No. 3 - Kochetov/Steele (ECU) def. Faber/Olarte (MOC); 8-4
Team Records: Mount Olive (0-1), East Carolina (4-2)