UAB Tops ECU 4-3 In C-USA Opener

Feb. 22, 2008

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - UAB rallied back from a first-set deficit in a No. 4 singles matchup and used a deciding doubles point tie-breaker to record a rain-delayed 4-3 Conference USA victory over East Carolina Friday at the Racquet Club of Hattiesburg.

The Pirates' loss to the Blazers also represented the first of three league matches scheduled as part of the C-USA Shootout - a neutral site satellite tournament format.

With the victory, UAB improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference play while ECU dropped to 5-5 and 0-1.

Freshman Jaroslav Horvath rolled past Slawomir Szeremeta 7-6, 6-0 in the No. 1 singles match to headline the Pirates' success while Bryan Oakley (0-6, 6-3, 6-3) and Stephen Whitwell (6-1, 6-1) added additional ECU wins in the No. 5 and No. 6 flights. After the Blazers' Hans Spangenberg disposed of Aleksey Kochetov (6-3, 6-4) at No. 2 and Tyrone Ewels cruised past Henrique Viana (6-3, 6-3) at No. 3, Dan Cornei rallied back from a 6-4 first-set loss against Henrik Skalmerud to post a 6-1, 6-2 victory at the No. 4 slot.

UAB used a pair of competitive triumphs at No. 2 and No. 3 to notch the doubles point and team victory. Blazer tandems Brian Ly/Spangenberg and Cornei/Alex Emery recorded 9-8 and 8-6 wins over Kochetov/Skalmerud and Oakley/Whitwell, respectively. Horvath and Viana produced East Carolina's only pairs' victory by handling Ewels and Szeremeta (8-5) at the No. 1 slot.

The Pirates will return to action Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m. when they will face host Southern Miss in second-day action of the C-USA Shootout before wrapping up tourney play Sunday with a 9 a.m. match against UCF.

UAB 4, EAST CAROLINA 3
Singles Play
No. 1 - Jaroslav Horvath (ECU) def. Slawomir Szeremeta (UAB); 7-6, 6-0
No. 2 - Hans Spangenberg (UAB) def. Aleksey Kochetov (ECU); 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 - Tyrone Ewels (UAB) def. Henrique Viana (ECU); 6-3, 6-3
No. 4 - Dan Cornei (UAB) def. Henrik Skalmerud (ECU); 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
No. 5 - Bryan Oakley (ECU) def. Brian Ly (UAB); 0-6, 6-3, 6-3
No. 6 - Stephen Whitwell (ECU) def. Thomas Petrich (UAB); 6-1, 6-1
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Horvath/Viana (ECU) def. Ewels/Szeremeta (UAB); 8-5
No. 2 - Ly/Spangenberg (UAB) def. Kochetov/Skalmerud (ECU); 9-8
No. 3 - Cornei/Alex Emery (UAB) def. Oakley/Whitwell (ECU); 8-6
Team Records: UAB 2-1, East Carolina 5-5

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