Pirates Lose Tough Battle with Coastal Carolina

Saturday, March 25

Greenville, N.C.

1:30 PM

East Carolina University

Coastal Carolina

March 25, 2017 | Men's Tennis

Box Score (PDF)

Greenville, N.C. – East Carolina saw its five-match win streak come to an end with a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Coastal Carolina Saturday afternoon at the River Birch Tennis Complex. With a 3-2 match lead for the Pirates, Coastal Carolina came from behind winning both No. 2 and No. 3 singles in third sets to claim the victory. The Pirates move to 14-4 overall while the Chanticleers improve to 8-7.

"It was a tough one for us today," head coach Shawn Heinchon said. "I hate the fact that we lost. That's obviously painful, but I love the fact that we fight until the end. We always give ourselves a chance to win, that's all we can ask for."

CCU won No. 1 doubles but a win by Kasey Countee and Ronny Georgi at No. 3 doubles evened things up 1-all. Vlad Anghel and Fredric Lehfeldt lost a tough 7-5 match at No. 2 doubles to Sebastian Schneider and Zak Talic who helped the Chanticleers pick up the doubles point.

Will Bissett evened things up for ECU with a convincing 6-0, 6-4 win over Francesco Gamero at the bottom of the singles lineup and Countee gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead seconds later with a 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 5 singles.

Freddie McGeehan lost a tough first set 7-6 (3) to Vuk Velickovic at the top of the lineup but turned the tides at the beginning of set two. CCU's top player rallied however and held off McGeehan for a 6-4 win in set two to claim the point and even the match 2-all.

Meanwhile, on court two Georgi was forced into a deciding set when Luiz Faria won set two, 6-4. Lehfeldt dominated his third set 6-0 after splitting the first two at No. 4 singles 5-7, 6-4 against Francesco Migliano for a 3-2 ECU lead.

Vlad Anghel lost set one in a tie breaker but bounced back to win set two winning 6-3 to mark the third singes matchup to go into a third deciding set. Georgi was defeated by Luiz Faria in set three which evened the score 3-3 as all eyes focused in on court three.

CCU's Schneider controlled the pace of set three from the beginning. He defeated Anghel 6-2 in the deciding frame to secure the win for Coastal Carolina.

ECU returns to action Friday in Rock Hill, S.C., when the Pirates take on Winthrop at 1 p.m.

Results:
Singles
1. Velickovic, Vuk (COASTAL) def. Freddie McGeehan (ECU-M) 7-6 (3), 6-4
2. Faria, Luiz (COASTAL) def. Ronny Georgi (ECU-M) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
3. Schneider, Sebastian (COASTAL) def. Vlad Anghel (ECU-M) 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-2
4. Fredric Lehfeldt (ECU-M) def. Migliano, Francesco (COASTAL) 5-7, 6-4, 6-0
5. Kasey Countee (ECU-M) def. Ortega, Jose (COASTAL) 6-2, 7-5
6. Will Bissett (ECU-M) def. Gamero, Francesco (COASTAL) 6-0, 6-4

Doubles
1. Velickovic, Vuk/Faria, Luiz (COASTAL) def. Freddie McGeehan/James Ling (ECU-M) 6-4
2. Schneider, Sebastian/Talic, Zak (COASTAL) def. Vlad Anghel/Fredric Lehfeldt (ECU-M) 7-5
3. Kasey Countee/Ronny Georgi (ECU-M) def. Migliano, Francesco/Ortega, Jose (COASTAL) 6-3