Feb. 25, 2007

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 No. 71 UCF Sunday morning at the UCF Tennis Center.

The setback to the Golden Knights was ECU's third-straight and concluded a three-match C-USA satellite tournament, which also included Memphis and UAB. With the victory, UCF improved to 7-3 overall and 3-0 in the conference play while the Pirates fell to 4-8 and 0-3.

Freshman Stephen Whitwell snared the lone victory for the Pirates at the No. 4 spot, posting a 6-4, 6-4 win over Brock Sakey.

In other singles action, Aleksey Kochetov fell to Sinan Sudas (2-6, 7-6, 1-0) at No. 1, Matt Peeler took a 6-3, 6-1 loss to Tarek Ben Soltane at No. 2, Bryan Oakley was knocked off by Johan Beigart (6-3, 6-3) at No. 3, Brian Walters came up short against Norman Alcantara (6-2, 6-2) at No. 5 and Sam McSpadden was defeated by Jimmy Roesch (6-2, 5-7, 1-0) at No. 6.

The Golden Knights used 8-3 and 8-1 doubles triumphs by the tandems of Alcantara/Sakey and Beigart/Sudas against Kochetov/Henrique Viana and Oakley/Whitwell, respectively, to open the match with a 1-0 lead.

The Pirates will return to action Saturday when they will welcome The Citadel to the ECU Tennis Complex for their home opener. First serve is set for 1:00 p.m.

NO. 71 UCF 6, EAST CAROLINA 1
Singles Play
No. 1 - Sinan Sudas (UCF) def. Aleksey Kochetov (ECU); 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 1-0 (10-5)
No. 2 - Tarek Ben Soltane (UCF) def. Matt Peeler (ECU); 6-3, 6-1
No. 3 - Johan Beigart (UCF) def. Bryan Oakley (ECU); 6-3, 6-3
No. 4 - Stephen Whitwell (ECU) def. Brock Sakey (UCF); 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 - Norman Alcantara (UCF) def. Brian Walters (ECU); 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 - Jimmy Roesch (UCF) def. Sam McSpadden (ECU); 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (10-4)
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Alcantara/Sakey (UCF) def. Kochetov/Henrique Viana (ECU); 8-3
No. 2 - Beigart/Sudas (UCF) def. Oakley/Whitwell (ECU); 8-1
No. 3 - Peeler/Walters (ECU) def. Roesch/Soltane (UCF); 8-3
Team Records: East Carolina (4-8, 0-3), UCF (7-3, 3-0)