April 14, 2007

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina men's tennis team closed out regular season play by dropping the doubles point and all six singles matches in a 7-0 non-conference loss to No. 30 Old Dominion Saturday afternoon at the ECU Tennis Complex.

The loss to the Monarchs dropped the Pirates' spring record to 10-13, while ODU improved to 19-6.

Stephen Whitwell and Brian Walters each forced three-set matches but the pair of freshmen fell to Aleksandr Seleznev (6-2, 4-6, 6-0) and Rodrigo Souza (1-6, 6-3, 1-0) in the No. 3 and No. 5 events, respectively.

In other singles action, Aleksey Kochetov was knocked off by Harel Srugo (6-1, 6-0) at No. 1, Bryan Oakley took a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Henrique Cancado at No. 2 and Matt Peeler lost to Eidy Igarashi (6-3, 6-2) in a No. 4 matchup. In addition, Sam McSpadden was defeated by Yakov Diskin (6-4, 6-1) in the sixth spot.

The Monarchs swept the doubles point as Igarashi/Seleznev handled Kochetov/Walters 8-4 in the top matchup, Cancado/Diskin handed Peeler/Whitwell an 8-2 loss in the second slot and Dom Manilla/Souza took care of the Pirates' No. 3 duo, McSpadden/Oakley, 8-6.

The Pirates will now turn their attention to the four-day Conference USA Championships which will begin Thursday, April 19 on the Rice University campus in Houston, Texas.

No. 30 OLD DOMINION 7, EAST CAROLINA 0
Singles Play
No. 1 - No. 18 Harel Srugo (ODU) def. Aleksey Kochetov (ECU); 6-1, 6-0
No. 2 - No. 25 Henrique Cancado (ODU) def. Bryan Oakley (ECU); 6-0, 6-2
No. 3 - Aleksandr Seleznev (ODU) def. Stephen Whitwell (ECU); 6-2, 4-6, 6-0
No. 4 - Eidy Igarashi (ODU) def. Matt Peeler (ECU); 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 - Rodrigo Souza (ODU) def. Brian Walters (ECU); 1-6, 6-3, 1-0
No. 6 - Yakov Diskin (ODU) def. Sam McSpadden (ECU); 6-4, 6-1
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Igarashi/Seleznev (ODU) def. Kochetov/Walters (ECU); 8-4
No. 2 - Cancado/Diskin (ODU) def. Peeler/Whitwell (ECU); 8-2
No. 3 - Dom Manilla/Souza (ODU) def. McSpadden/Oakley (ECU); 8-6
Team Records: Old Dominion 19-6, East Carolina 10-13