April 15, 2006

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina men's tennis team closed out regular season play by dropping the doubles point and all but one singles match in a 6-1 non-conference loss to South Carolina State Saturday afternoon at the ECU Tennis Complex.

The loss to the Bulldogs dropped the Pirates' spring record to 8-13, while South Carolina State improved to 16-5.

Sophomore Henrique Viana notched the only victory for ECU at the No. 2 spot, posting a 6-2, 6-0 win over Dimitry Lomakin.

In other singles action, freshman Aleksey Kochetov was knocked off by Andrew Mawire (7-6, 2-6, 1-0) at No. 1, sophomore Ricardo Barone took a 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 loss to Dragan Bisercic at No. 3 and senior Nick Rose fell to Ionut Hurduc (6-4, 6-2) in a No. 4 matchup. In addition, freshman Brian Walters was defeated by Parantap Chaturvedi in the fifth spot (6-4, 6-2) and sophomore Mike Catalano came up short against Sergey Plotnikov (6-1, 6-2) at the No. 6 slot.

The Bulldogs swept the doubles point as Lomakin/Plotnikov outlasted Barone/Kochetov 8-7 (1) in the top matchup, Mawire/Hurduc handed Barone/Viana an 8-6 loss in the second slot and Bisercic/Chaturvedi took care of the Pirates' No. 3 duo, Catalano/Walters, 8-1.

The Pirates will now turn their attention to the four-day Conference USA Championships which will begin Thursday, April 20 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE 6, EAST CAROLINA 1
Singles Play
No. 1 - Andrew Mawire (SCSU) def. Aleksey Kochetov (ECU); 7-6 (4), 2-6, 1-0 (4)
No. 2 - Henrique Viana (ECU) def. Dimitry Lomakin (SCSU); 6-2, 6-0
No. 3 - Dragan Bisercic (SCSU) def. Ricardo Barone (ECU); 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (9)
No. 4 - Ionut Hurduc (SCSU) def. Nick Rose (ECU); 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 - Parantap Chaturvedi (SCSU) def. Brian Walters (ECU); 6-4, 6-2
No. 6 - Sergey Plotnikov (SCSU) def. Mike Catalano (ECU); 6-1, 6-2
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Lomakin/Plotnikov (SCSU) def. Barone/Kochetov (ECU); 8-7 (1)
No. 2 - Hurduc/Mawire (SCSU) def. Rose/Viana (ECU); 8-6
No. 3 - Bisercic/Chaturvedi (SCSU) def. Catalano/Walters (ECU); 8-1
Team Records: South Carolina State (16-5), East Carolina (8-13)