March 25, 2007

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The College of Charleston, ranked No. 74 in the latest Fila Collegiate Tennis Poll, used a doubles sweep and wins in five of six singles matches to hand East Carolina a 6-1 non-conference setback Sunday afternoon at the ECU Tennis Complex.

After the Cougars' tandem of Omer Abramovich and Perry Allen opened doubles play with an 8-4 defeat of freshmen Sam McSpadden and Bryan Oakley at the No. 2 slot, College of Charleston (12-1) clinched the doubles point when Justin Malina and Jimmy Petit followed with a similar 8-4 victory over rookie Matt Peeler and sophomore Brian Walters at No. 3. Sophomore Aleksey Kochetov and freshman Stephen Whitwell gave the Cougars' No. 1 pair, Or Dekel and Marcos DiGliodo, a better battle before falling 8-5.

In singles play, Malina and Dekel pushed College of Charleston's lead to 3-0 with victories at the No. 4 and No. 1 positions, respectively, as Malina rolled past Peeler (6-2, 6-1) and Dekel dispatched Kochetov (6-4, 6-1). DiGliodo clinched the Cougars' team win by recording a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Oakley at the No. 2 flight before Abramovich handed Whitwell a 6-4, 6-4 loss at No. 3 and Allen netted the same result against Walters at No. 5.

McSpadden posted East Carolina's (6-10) only triumph of the afternoon by outlasting Steven Myers 6-7 (8), 6-2, 1-0 (1) in a No. 6 matchup.

After traveling to Richmond Thursday for a 2:30 p.m. battle against the Spiders, the Pirates will return to Greenville to play five of their last six regular season matches.

No. 74 COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 6, EAST CAROLINA 1
Singles Play
No. 1 - Or Dekel (CofC) def. Aleksey Kochetov (ECU); 6-4, 6-1
No. 2 - Marcos DiGliodo (CofC) def. Bryan Oakley (ECU); 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 - Omer Abramovich (CofC) def. Stephen Whitwell (ECU); 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 - Justin Malina (CofC) def. Matt Peeler (ECU); 6-2, 6-1
No. 5 - Perry Allen (CofC) def. Brian Walters (ECU); 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 - Sam McSpadden (ECU) def. Steven Myers (CofC); 6-7 (8), 6-2, 1-0 (1)
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Dekel/DiGliodo (CofC) def. Kochetov/Whitwell (ECU); 8-5
No. 2 - Abramovich/Allen (CofC) def. McSpadden/Oakley (ECU); 8-4
No. 3 - Malina/Jimmy Petit (CofC) def. Peeler/Walters (ECU); 8-4
Team Records: College of Charleston 12-1, East Carolina 6-10