March 4, 2006

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- The East Carolina men's tennis team dropped just one singles match on the way to a 6-1 non-conference win over Richmond Saturday afternoon at the ECU Tennis Complex.

The victory also snapped a five-match slide for the Pirates.

In singles action, top-seeded Henrique Viana opened play with a 7-6 (1), 6-4 triumph over Doug Banker while Aleksey Kochetov followed with a 7-5, 6-3 decision against Bobby McNally at the No. 2 position.

Ricardo Barone, who returned to the Pirates' lineup after suffering an injury during last week's Conference USA play, put together a 6-4, 6-4 win over Matt Stillwagon at No. 3 while Brian Walters notched his ninth victory of the season by rolling past Sami Belakhlef 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 4. In the closest match of the day, Britton Steele rallied past the Spiders' Brett Waikart 6-7, (3), 6-3, 1-0, (3).

Richmond (6-6) posted its only win of the match when Chris Louis defeated ECU's Nick Rose 6-4, 6-2 in a No. 5 meeting.

The Pirates enjoyed a strong start, taking two of three doubles matches to garner the opening point. An 8-3 victory by Barone and Viana at the No. 1 position over UR's McNally and Stillwagon followed an 8-1 win by the ECU tandem of Kochetov/Rose over Banker and Waikart at No. 2 to garner the tally.

The Pirates will return to action Sunday when they travel to Raleigh for a 2:30 p.m. match against N.C. State.

EAST CAROLINA 6, RICHMOND 1
Singles Play
No. 1 - Henrique Viana (ECU) def. Doug Banker (Richmond); 7-6 (1), 6-4
No. 2 - Aleksey Kochetov (ECU) def. Bobby McNally (Richmond); 7-5, 6-3
No. 3 - Ricardo Barone (ECU) def. Matt Stillwagon (Richmond); 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 - Brian Walters (ECU) def. Sami Belakhlef (Richmond); 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 - Chris Louis (Richmond) def. Nick Rose (ECU); 6-4, 6-2
No. 6 - Britton Steele (ECU) def. Brett Waikart (Richmond); 6-7 (3), 6-3, 1-0 (3)
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Barone/Viana (ECU) def. McNally/Stillwagon (Richmond); 8-3
No. 2 - Kochetov/Rose (ECU) def. Banker/Waikart (Richmond); 8-1
No. 3 - Louis/Michael Sommer (Richmond) def. Steele/Walters (ECU); 8-6
Team Records: East Carolina (5-7), Richmond (6-6)