March 29, 2011

RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond rallied back after dropping the doubles point and used Alexandra Smyth's 7-6, 6-3 victory over Yilian Zhang in a No. 5 singles match to earn a 4-3 non-conference win over East Carolina Tuesday afternoon at Westhampton Courts.

The Spiders, who won for the sixth time in their last seven outings, improved to 10-5 with the triumph while the setback dropped the Lady Pirates' record to 15-7.

ECU used victories by tandems Jessica Cook and Zhang at the No. 3 position and Natalie Collins and Petra Vogel at No. 1 to capture the doubles point. Cook and Zhang pushed their record to 4-1 after posting an 8-3 win over Elizabeth Sims and Alexandra Smyth while Collins and Vogel extended their team-best spring pairs mark to 12-5 after defeating Sydney Grant and Joanna Matuszczyk 9-7.

After Richmond opened singles play with victories at the No. 2, No. 6 and No. 4 slots to take a 3-1 lead, Vogel helped East Carolina close to within one with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 decision against Grant before Smyth clinched the Spiders' team win. Cook closed out the match and tallied ECU's last point by outlasting UR's Helen Cunningham 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a No. 1 meeting.

The Lady Pirates will return home to face Gardner-Webb Saturday at 11 a.m., which will mark East Carolina's last weekend match of the season at the ECU Tennis Complex.

RICHMOND 4, EAST CAROLINA 3>BR> Singles Play
No. 1 - Jessica Cook (ECU) def. Helen Cunningham (UR) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 2 - Joanna Matuszczyk (UR) def. Natalie Collins (ECU) 6-4, 6-1
No. 3 - Petra Vogel (ECU) def. Sydney Grant (UR) 1-6, 6-3, 6-1
No. 4 - Kelly Tidwell (UR) def. Neena Wanko (ECU) 7-6, 6-1
No. 5 - Alexandra Smyth (UR) def. Yilian Zhang (ECU) 7-6, 6-3
No. 6 - Elizabeth Sims (UR) def. Manon Bissat (ECU) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Collins/Vogel (ECU) def. Grant/Matuszczyk (UR) 9-7
No. 2 - Cunningham/Isabel Arana (UR) def. Bissat/Wanko (ECU) 9-8
No. 3 - Cook/Zhang (ECU) def. Sims/Smyth (UR) 8-3
Team Records: East Carolina 15-7, Richmond 10-5