April 2, 2011

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Jessica Cook and Yilian Zhang's 8-3 victory over Tavenner Black and Ronia Hutterli in a No. 3 doubles match earned the Lady Pirates the opening point that eventually proved to be the difference as East Carolina edged Gardner-Webb 4-3 in non-conference women's tennis action Saturday afternoon at the ECU Tennis Complex.

The Lady Pirates, who extended their home record to 8-2, improved to 16-7 overall. The Bulldogs dropped to 9-4 on the season.

ECU's freshman tandem of Manon Bissat and Neena Wanko opened doubles play with an 8-2 win over Rita Gouveia and Laura Kriett at the No. 2 slot before Cook and Zhang clinched the initial tally. Natalie Collins and Petra Vogel added an 8-4 triumph over Jenny Lunde and Ioana Oprea at No. 1 to close out pairs action.

The two teams split six singles matches, all but one being decided in straight sets.

After Lunde dismissed Vogel 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 to draw Gardner-Webb even, Cook capped a run of three-straight East Carolina victories with a 6-1, 6-3 defeat of Oprea at No. 1 to secure the team win. Bissat cruised past Black 6-1, 6-0 in a No. 6 meeting before Zhang downed Gouveia 6-0, 6-3 at No. 5 to set the stage for Cook's clincher.

The Bulldogs claimed the No. 4 and No. 2 matches as Hutterli and Kriett recorded 6-1, 6-3 and 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 victories over Wanko and Collins, respectively.

East Carolina will close out its regular season road schedule by meeting Marshall for a Conference USA match Friday, April 8. First serve is set for 2:00 p.m. in Huntington, W.Va.

EAST CAROLINA 4, GARDNER-WEBB 3
Singles Play
No. 1 - Jessica Cook (ECU) def. Ioana Oprea (GWU) 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 - Laura Kriett (GWU) def. Natalie Collins (ECU) 6-2, 0-6, 6-3
No. 3 - Jenny Lunde (GWU) def. Petra Vogel (ECU) 6-0, 6-0
No. 4 - Ronia Hutterli (GWU) def. Neena Wanko (ECU) 6-1, 6-3
No. 5 - Yilian Zhang (ECU) def. Rita Gouveia (GWU) 6-0, 6-3
No. 6 - Manon Bissat (ECU) def. Tavenner Black (GWU) 6-1, 6-0
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Collins/Vogel (ECU) def. Lunde/Oprea (GWU) 8-4
No. 2 - Bissat/Wanko (ECU) def. Gouveia/Kriett (GWU) 8-2
No. 3 - Cook/Zhang (ECU) def. Black/Hutterli (GWU) 8-3
Team Records: Gardner-Webb 9-4, East Carolina 16-7