Feb. 24, 2006

ORLANDO, Fla. - The East Carolina men's tennis team dropped the doubles point and all but one singles match in a 6-1 Conference USA loss to Memphis Friday morning at the UCF Tennis Center.

The setback to the Tigers served as the first of three C-USA matches scheduled to be played in a neutral site satellite tournament format.

With the victory, Memphis improved to 4-6 overall and 1-2 in the conference play while the Pirates fell to 4-4 and 0-1.

Freshman Brian Walters snared the lone victory for the Pirates at the No. 5 spot, posting a 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over Brian Bankester.

In other singles action, Henrique Viana fell to Matt Brewer (6-3, 6-2) at No. 1, Aleksey Kochetov took a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Michael Jetter at No. 2, Ricardo Barone was knocked off by James Spence (6-4, 6-2) at No. 3, Nick Rose came up short against Sam Withell (6-3, 6-2) and Mike Catalano was defeated by Garrison Pilant (6-2, 6-2) at No. 6.

The Tigers used 8-4 and 8-2 doubles triumphs by the tandems of Spence/Withrell and Jetter/Pilant against Barone/Viana and Britton Steele/Walters, respectively, to open the match with a 1-0 lead.

The Pirates will return to action Saturday beginning at 1:30 when they will face off against league foe Southern Miss.

MEMPHIS 6, EAST CAROLINA 1
Singles Play
No. 1 - Matt Brewer (UM) def. Henrique Viana (ECU); 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 - Michael Jetter (UM) def. Aleksey Kochetov (ECU); 6-4, 6-3
No. 3 - James Spence (UM) def. Ricardo Barone (ECU); 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 - Sam Withell (UM) def. Nick Rose (ECU); 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 - Brian Walters (ECU) def. Bryan Bankester (UM); 7-6 (4) 6-3
No. 6 - Garrison Pilant (UM) def. Mike Catalano (ECU); 6-2, 6-2
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Spence/Withell (UM) def. Barone/Viana (ECU); 8-4
No. 2 - Brewer/Putra (UM) vs. Kochetov/Rose (ECU); DNF
No. 3 - Jetter/Pilant (UM) def. Britton Steele/Walters (ECU); 8-2
Team Record: East Carolina (4-4, 0-1), Memphis (4-6, 1-2)