East Carolina University
Southern Miss
Southern Miss Edges Pirate Tennis 4-3
February 23, 2008 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 23, 2008
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss bounced back from a doubles' point loss by claiming four of six singles matches, two coming in three-set fashion, and rallied past East Carolina 4-3 in Conference USA men's tennis action Saturday afternoon at the Racquet Club of Hattiesburg.
The Pirates' loss to the Golden Eagles also marked the second of three league matches scheduled as part of the C-USA Shootout - a satellite tourney which opened Friday with a similar 4-3 setback to UAB.
With the win, Southern Miss improved to 2-7 overall and 1-1 in the conference play while ECU dropped to 5-6 and 0-2.
East Carolina jumped out to an early 1-0 team advantage with a pair of doubles victories. Despite an 8-5 win by Domagoj Anic and Jan Burmeister over Aleksey Kochetov and Henrik Skalmerud at the No. 2 position, the Pirates clinched the point by taking the No. 1 and No. 3 matchups - using an 8-3 triumph by Jaroslav Horvath and Henrique Viana along with an 8-6 victory by Bryan Oakley and Stephen Whitwell.
The Pirates and Golden Eagles each picked up a pair of two-set wins to open singles play before USM captured the match with consecutive three-set triumphs by Markus Wessinghage (2-6, 6-2, 6-2 over Oakley) at No. 6 and Andrew Poole (7-5, 0-6, 7-6 over Skalmerud) at No.4.
Viana and Kochetov posted East Carolina's only victories by knocking off Burmeister 7-6, 6-2 at No. 2 and Oscar Machuca 6-4, 6-1 at the No. 3 slot, respectively.
The Pirates will complete Conference USA Shootout action Sunday with a 10:00 a.m. match against UCF.
SOUTHERN MISS 4, EAST CAROLINA 3
Singles Play
No. 1 - Domagoj Anic (USM) def. Jaroslav Horvath (ECU); 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 - Henrique Viana (ECU) def. Jan Burmeister (USM); 7-6, 6-2
No. 3 - Aleksey Kochetov (ECU) def. Oscar Machuca (USM); 6-4, 6-1
No. 4 - Andrew Poole (USM) def. Henrik Skalmerud (ECU); 7-5, 0-6, 7-6 (7-5)
No. 5 - Diego Machuca (USM) def. Stephen Whitwell (ECU); 6-1, 7-6 (7-4)
No. 6 - Markus Wessinghage (USM) def. Bryan Oakley (ECU); 2-6, 6-2, 6-2
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Horvath/Viana (ECU) def. Poole/Wessinghage (USM); 8-3
No. 2 - Anic/Burmeister (USM) def. Kochetov/Skalmerud (ECU); 8-5
No. 3 - Oakley/Whitwell (ECU) def. D. Machuca/O. Machuca (USM); 8-6
Team Records: East Carolina 5-6, 0-2; Southern Miss 2-7, 1-1
