Feb. 26, 2006

ORLANDO, Fla. - Southern Miss rallied back from opening-set deficits in two singles matches and benefitted from a deciding doubles point to record a 4-3 Conference USA rain-delayed victory over East Carolina Saturday at the UCF Tennis Center.

The Pirates' loss to the Golden Eagles also represented the second of three C-USA matches scheduled as part of a neutral site satellite tournament format.

With the victory, USM improved to 1-5 overall and 1-1 in the conference play while ECU dropped to 4-5 and 0-2.

Freshman Aleksey Kochetov cruised past Juan Garzon 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 1 singles match to headline the Pirates' success while Ricardo Barone (6-4, 3-6, 6-4) and Nick Rose (6-3, 6-4) added additional wins in the No. 3 and No. 4 matchups. After Southern Miss' Marc Lux disposed of Henrique Viana 6-3, 6-3 at No. 2, Andrew Poole and John Koti both lost opening sets before fighting back to register triumphs over ECU's Brian Walters (4-6, 6-1, 6-4) and Britton Steele (3-6, 6-4, 6-4) at the No. 5 and No. 6 flights, respectively.

The Golden Eagles opened play by grabbing the doubles point after an 8-2 victory by the tandem of Koti/Mezey (over Steele/Walters) and a shortened 5-1 default decision by Lux/Poole against Barone/Viana.

The Pirates will close out their three-game C-USA tourney against UAB Sunday. First serve is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

SOUTHERN MISS 4, EAST CAROLINA 3
Singles Play
No. 1 - Aleksey Kochetov (ECU) def. Juan Garzon (USM); 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 - Marc Lux (USM) def. Henrique Viana (ECU); 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 - Ricardo Barone (ECU) def. Tommy Maestri (USM); 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
No. 4 - Nick Rose (ECU) def. Dylan Mezey (USM); 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 - Andrew Poole (USM) def. Brian Walters (ECU); 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
No. 6 - John Koti (USM) def. Britton Steele (ECU); 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Lux/Poole (USM) def. Barone/Viana (ECU); 5-1, default
No. 2 - Kochetov/Rose (ECU) vs. Garzon/Maestri (USM); 4-2 (DNF)
No. 3 - Koti/Mezey (USM) def. Steele/Walters (ECU); 8-2
Team Record: East Carolina (4-5, 0-2), Southern Miss (1-5, 1-1)