Pirates Earn No. 8 Seed For C-USA Championships
April 18, 2011 | Men's Tennis
April 18, 2011
Watch Coach Heinchon's Preview
Championship Central | Live Stats
GREENVILLE, N.C. --- The East Carolina men's tennis team earned the No. 8 seed for the 2011 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championships, which begin Thursday, April 21 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. The Pirates will face No. 9 seed Southern Miss Thursday at 3 p.m. EDT in the opening round match with the winner advancing to face top-seeded Tulsa in the quarterfinals on Friday at 12 p.m.
The Pirates edged the Golden Eagles, 4-3, in Hattiesburg, Miss. earlier this season with a sweep of the doubles matches and split of the singles matches. Freshman Joran Vliegen, sophomore John Schmitt and senior Henrik Skalmerud were each victorious in singles play.
ECU will send Vliegen and senior Jaroslav Horvath in the first doubles flight with Skalmerud and fellow senior Stian Tvedt playing at No. 2 doubles. The third doubles team is yet to be determined.
Horvath and Vliegen have been a successful pairing during their first season playing together. The duo has produced a 15-9 ledger, including a 12-6 mark at the No. 1 flight. Skalmerud and Tvedt teamed up this spring for an 11-9 dual match record, which included an 8-4 win at Southern Miss over the Golden Eagles' tandem of Paulo Alvarado and Jovan Zeljkovic.
In singles play, Horvath will play at the No. 1 position while Vliegen will occupy the No. 2 flight. Sophomore Massimo Mannino, who won five matches at No. 1, will follow in the third flight with Schmitt, owner of a 16-9 singles record this season playing No. 4. Tvedt will compete in the fifth flight with freshman Mario Martinez putting his 10-3 individual record on the line at No. 6.
Other first round match-ups feature No. 4 UCF against No. 5 Memphis, No. 3 SMU taking on sixth-seeded UAB and No. 2 Rice battling seventh-seeded Tulane. Quarterfinal play begins Friday at 9 a.m. with UCF facing Memphis. The championship semifinals will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday with the championship matches commencing at 2 p.m. Sunday.
The Pirates produced a 12-10 dual match record this spring, including a 1-3 mark against Conference USA foes.
