Gameday: Men's Tennis Starts Season With Two Home Matches

Match 1: James Madison (0-0) at ECU (0-0)
Date	Sunday, Jan. 20
Time	12 noon (EST)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (ECU Indoor Tennis Center)
Social Media	Twitter: @ecutennisM Instagram: @ecumenstennis Facebook: ECU Men's Tennis

Match 2: The Citadel (0-3) at ECU (0-0)
Date	Monday, Jan. 21
Time	2:30 pm (EST)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (ECU Indoor Tennis Center)
Social Media	Twitter: @ecutennisM Instagram: @ecumenstennis Facebook: ECU Men's Tennis

GREENVILLE, N.C. – After a program record 22 wins in 2018, the ECU men's tennis team brings back the majority of its squad as the Pirates start the 2019 campaign with home matches against James Madison and the Citadel.

"We are looking forward to getting up and running this weekend," said head coach Shawn Heinchon. "It's nice to be at home to get things started, hopefully that gives us a small edge in our matches this weekend. As a team, we know this is a new season with new challenges ahead. Last year was great and we certainly have a lot of experience coming back but we are not going to beat anyone today based on what we did a year ago, our focus has to be on us being who we can be today. "

ECU finished the 2018 spring season with a 22-5 record, including a win over UConn in the opening round of the American Tennis Championship. ECU returns six players from that squad as well as adding a pair of talented newcomers.

Leading the returners is senior Vlad Anghel, who played the majority of his matches on court one during his junior campaign. Anghel went 14-10 last spring and 5-5 during the fall season. Anghel had his best weekend of the fall at the Spider Invitational, going 3-1 there and finishing third in his flight.

Along with Anghel, Will Bissett, Ronny Georgi and Austin Allen are in their fourth year in the program. Bissett, a senior, went 8-2 last fall and finished 4-6 this fall. Bissett went 4-1 at the USC Fall Invite and won a flight consolation title. Georgi, also a senior, went 18-4 in dual matches last spring. Allen, a redshirt junior, finished 2018 with a perfect 5-0 mark in dual matches.

Rounding out the returners are junior Javier Renones and sophomore Wisse Jonker. Jonker went 18-3 in dual matches last spring and followed it up with a 6-5 mark during the fall. Jonker won his first individual title when he claimed a singles flight title at the Spider Invitational. Renones went a team-best 18-2 in dual matches last spring, including 15-1 on court six. Jonker and Renones also combined to form a top doubles duo, going 17-2 in dual matches and 3-2 during the fall.

The two newcomers both found success during their first collegiate tennis action. Diogo Marques had a team-high 10 singles wins during the fall season and reached the final of his flight at the Spider Invitational. Simon Labbe went 4-7 in singles and was half of ECU's most productive duo during the fall, combining with Renones to go 4-1 in doubles, including a flight title at the Spider Invitational.

James Madison went 16-7 during the 2018 spring season, including a 4-3 record in the CAA. William Karpinski was the top performer for James Madison during this past fall, going 12-4. The top returner for the Dukes is Alvaro Arce, who was named the CAA Rookie of the Year after going 14-7 in dual matches last spring. Also returning are Gonzalo Adis (12-5), Pierre Kohler (11-11), Paul Mendoza (14-9) and Damon Roberts (14-9), all of whom had double-digit win totals in dual matches. In doubles, Arce and Kohler are the top returning tandem, having gone 15-6 on court two last spring. During the fall, James Madison was better on the doubles court, winning 26-of-42 (.619) matches, compared to winning 53-of-97 (.546) singles matches.

The Citadel has started its season 0-3 after a 10-25 2018 season. The Bulldogs started their season with consecutive 7-0 losses to No. 25 South Carolina before falling 6-0 at Georgia Southern. Before meeting ECU on Monday afternoon, The Citadel will also be traveling to Clemson for a pair of matches as well as taking on James Madison Monday morning. Last season, the two schools met for a pair of matches in Charleston, S.C., and ECU won 6-1 and 7-0.

Both matches this weekend will take place at the ECU Indoor Tennis Center. The match against James Madison is scheduled to begin at 12 noon on Sunday, Jan. 20 while the match against The Citadel will get started at 2:30 p.m., on Monday, Jan. 21.

Gameday: Men's Tennis Starts Season With Two Home Matches

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Players Mentioned

Austin Allen

Vlad Anghel

Will Bissett

Ronny Georgi

Wisse Jonker

Simon Labbe

Diogo Marques

Javier Renones

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