Lady Pirates Face UAB In C-USA Tourney
April 14, 2009 | Women's Tennis
April 14, 2009
C-USA Women's Tennis Championship Central
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The Lady Pirates will try to make it two first-round wins in a row when the 2009 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship Tournament opens Thursday on the Rice University campus in Houston.
Ironically, sixth-seeded East Carolina will face a familiar opponent.
For the second consecutive season, ECU and No. 11 UAB will square off in opening-round action. Unlike last year's 4-2 Lady Pirate victory at the Hoff Courts on the University of Houston campus, this meeting will take place at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium beginning at 2 p.m. local time.
Other first-round battles Thursday include No. 8 UTEP vs. No. 9 Memphis (10 a.m.), No. 5 Rice vs. No. 12 Southern Miss (10 a.m.) and No. 7 UCF vs. No. 10 Tulane (2 p.m.). No. 1 SMU, No. 2 Tulsa, No. 3 Marshall and No. 4 Houston all earned opening-round byes.
Veteran head coach Tom Morris has guided the Lady Pirates to a 14-6 regular season record this spring, fueled in part by three separate four-match win streaks. Prior to his current 14-victory campaign, Morris helped ECU produce the top four single-season win totals in school history - a 17-9 mark in 2005, back-to-back school-record 19-9 and 19-10 finishes in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and a 17-6 ledger in 2008.
East Carolina has benefitted from strong singles play in 2009, most notably from freshman Natalie Collins (15-4) at No. 3 and junior Brooke Walter (18-2) at No. 4 - both key contributors to the Lady Pirates' overall 84-33 record and .718 winning percentage. Collins has also played a key role in ECU's doubles efforts, combining with sophomore Tamara Sachs for a squad-best 10-3 pairs mark.
ECU, which has produced an 8-9 ledger in seven previous C-USA Tournament appearances, will also try to surpass its top finish of fifth place accomplished in 2003, 2006 and 2008. The Lady Pirates have captured at least one victory in five of the seven tourneys, with a program-best three triumphs in 2003.
