March 31, 2007

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The East Carolina women's tennis team tallied the doubles point and later secured a 4-3 non-conference triumph over Charlotte with three straight-set singles wins by Varinia Soler, Mireia Gol and Luiza Borges Saturday afternoon at the D.L. Phillips Tennis Complex.

ECU improved its mark to 16-8 on the season while the former Conference USA member 49ers dropped to 7-7.

The Lady Pirates quickly built a 1-0 lead and clinched the doubles point when the third-seeded tandem of Alex Smith and Brooke Walter posted an 8-6 victory over Candace Cunningham and Kathy Robey. Borges and Hannah Priest opened pairs play with an 8-4 win over Michelle Alexander and Koren Fleming at the No. 2 position.

In singles play, the two teams split six matches with East Carolina picking up victories at the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 flights. Soler defeated Robey (6-1, 6-0), Gol rolled past Ali Piacente (6-1, 6-1) and Borges dispatched Yana Stoeva (6-3, 6-4) to account for the Lady Pirates' tallies.

Charlotte used triumphs by Ana Spivakovsky over Anca Dumitri (6-0, 6-2) at No. 1, Fleming over Walter (6-4, 6-4) at No. 4 and Alexander over Priest (7-5, 6-1) at No. 6 to capture the other three matches.

East Carolina will close out its five-match road swing Tuesday when it faces off against UNC-Wilmington beginning at 2:00 p.m.

EAST CAROLINA 4, CHARLOTTE 3
Singles Play
No. 1 - Ana Spivakovsky (Charlotte) def. Anca Dumitru (ECU); 6-0, 6-2
No. 2 - Varinia Soler (ECU) def. Kathy Robey (Charlotte); 6-1, 6-0
No. 3 - Mireia Gol (ECU) def. Ali Piacente (Charlotte); 6-1, 6-1
No. 4 - Koren Fleming (Charlotte) def. Brooke Walter (ECU); 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 - Luiza Borges (ECU) def. Yana Stoeva (Charlotte); 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 - Michelle Alexander (Charlotte) def. Hannah Priest (ECU); 7-5, 6-1
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Piacente/Spivakovsky (Charlotte) def. Gol/Soler (ECU); 8-2
No. 2 - Borges/Priest (ECU) def. Alexander/Fleming (Charlotte); 8-4
No. 3 - Alex Smith/Walter (ECU) def. Candace Cunningham/Robey (Charlotte); 8-6
Team Records: East Carolina 16-8, Charlotte 7-7