FORT WORTH, Texas -- East Carolina's men's tennis team fell to host TCU, 4-1, on Saturday in a semifinal round match of the Conference USA Shootout, being held this weekend in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Pirates, which entered the six-team field as the No. 6 seed, posted an upset of No. 3 seed DePaul on Friday, but came up short in a second straight upset bid against the top-seeded Horned Frogs.

"I'm very pleased with our effort, which came against a top-40 team," ECU head coach Tom Morris said. "Even though we lost 4-1, it was a little closer than that and we had our chances in a couple of key sets. We were right in there for awhile. We are definitely playing the best we've played this year."

The Horned Frogs, ranked No. 37 in the latest ITA national rankings, improved to 6-3 with the victory, while ECU fell to 3-4.

TCU took the doubles point as Fabrizio Sestini and Toni Gordon paired up for an 8-4 win over ECU's Charl Meyer and Brad Sullivan at flight one. TCU's Daniel Scholten and Alex Menichini beat the Pirates' flight two tandem of Paulo Baumer and Nick Rose, 8-3.

In singles, the Horned Frogs took the top three flights' matches by straight sets, although ECU's Baumer forced a tiebreaker in a tough 6-4, 7-6 loss at Jacopo Tezza at flight three. The Pirates' Edward Cooper forced a third set at flight four against Jacob Martin, but the clinching point made the conclusion of that match unnecessary.

The Pirates' lone victory on the day came at flight six singles, where Nick Rose beat Pepé Mendoza, 6-4, 6-1.

ECU will play in the tournament's consolation match on Sunday at 10 a.m. CT. The Pirates will be facing Southern Miss, the tournament's fourth seed.

TCU 4, East Carolina 1

DOUBLES:
#1 Fabrizio Sestini/Toni Gordon (TCU) def. Charl Meyer/Brad Sullivan (ECU) 8-4
#2 Daniel Scholten/Alex Menichini (TCU) def. Paulo Baumer/Nick Rose (ECU) 8-3
#3 Rafael Abreu/Jacob Martin (TCU) vs. Felipe Fonseca/Ed Cooper (ECU) DNF

SINGLES:
#1 Menichini (TCU) def. Meyer (ECU) 6-2; 6-4
#2 Sestini (TCU) def. Sullivan (ECU) 6-1; 6-2
#3 Jacopo Tezza (TCU) def. Baumer (ECU) 6-4; 7-6 (8-6 Tiebreaker)
#4 Jacob Martin (TCU) vs. Cooper DNF (TCU lead 6-4; 3-6; 5-2)
#5 Scholten (TCU) vs. Fonseca (ECU) DNF
#6 Rose (ECU) def. Pepé Mendoza (TCU) 6-4; 6-1