Pirates Cruise To 7-0 Win Over The Citadel

Monday, January 21

Greenville, N.C.

2:30 PM

East Carolina University

The Citadel

Photo by: Rob Taylor

January 21, 2019 | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – After starting the season with a tight 4-3 win, the ECU men's tennis team cruised to a 7-0 win over The Citadel on Monday afternoon inside the ECU Indoor Tennis Center.

"It was a great match," said assistant coach Ian Van Cott. "It was a tough day, a little bit of a long day, but I thought the guys played well. It was good to build off our confidence from gutting out a tough match yesterday. It's always good to play matches, get a lot of experience early in the season. Hopefully we can carry this confidence into Navy, which should be a tough match, next weekend."

The Pirates once again started the match with a 1-0 lead by claiming the doubles point. After dropping their first match of the season, Wisse Jonker and Vlad Anghel responded with a 6-1 win over Willem Van Zyl and Gavin Stewart. Mere seconds later, Will Bissett and Javier Renones closed out a 6-3 victory over Roy Hobson and Will Graham to clinch the point. The lone blight for ECU on the day came in the third doubles match, as Diogo Marques and Austin Allen lost a tight 7-5 match to Noah Nawabi and Phillip Quinn.

In singles, all six Pirates came out aggressive. Marques and Jonker were nearly untouchable in their first sets, with just Jonker dropping a single game. Neither let down in the second set, with Jonker finishing off a 6-1, 6-0 win over Van Zyl on court three quickly followed by Marques finishing off a 6-0, 6-1 mark against Pyritz on court two. It was the first dual match win of Marques' career.

With ECU needing just one point to clinch the match, Anghel came through. The senior, leading Hobson 5-4 in the second set on court one, protected his serve and closed out a 6-3, 6-4 win.

With the team win no longer in doubt, the second three Pirates did not let up. On court four, Bissett came up clutch in both sets. First, the redshirt junior trailed 6-5 with Nawabi serving for The Citadel. Bissett was able to break Nawabi and then dominated the tiebreaker to take the first set. In the second set, the pair once again found themselves at 6-5. Bissett again won the game he needed to force the tiebreaker and once again he cruised in the tiebreaker to win 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2).

On court five, Ronny Georgi joined Jonker as the only two Pirates to win singles matches in both of the first two matches as he beat Gavin Stewart 6-2, 6-3.

The match came to a close with one more tiebreaker. Allen had taken the first set 6-2, but Quinn recovered to send the second set to the tiebreaker. Allen trailed at the beginning of the extra frame, but the senior took the lead at 7-6 and then added one more point for the 6-2, 7-6 (6) victory.

ECU hits the road next weekend for a pair of matches. The Pirates will travel to Annapolis, Md., for a meeting with Navy and Mount St. Mary's, with both matches on Saturday, Jan. 26.

Singles Results
1. Vlad Anghel (ECU) def. Roy Hobson (The Citadel) 6-3, 6-4
2. Diogo Marques (ECU) def. Jack Pyritz (The Citadel) 6-0, 6-1
3. Wisse Jonker (ECU) def. Willem Van Zyl (The Citadel) 6-1, 6-0
4. Will Bissett (ECU) def. Noah Nawabi (The Citadel) 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2)
5. Ronny Georgi (ECU) def. Gavin Stewart (The Citadel) 6-2, 6-3
6. Austin Allen (ECU) def. Phillip Quinn (The Citadel) 6-2, 7-6 (6)

Doubles Results
1. Wisse Jonker/Vlad Anghel (ECU) def. Willem Van Zyl/Gavin Stewart (The Citadel) 6-1
2. Will Bissett/Javier Renones (ECU) def. Roy Hobson/Will Graham (The Citadel) 6-3
3. Noah Nawabi/Phillip Quinn (The Citadel) def. Diogo Marques/Austin Allen (ECU) 7-5

Match Results
Order of Finish: Singles (3,2,1,4,5,6) Doubles (1,2,3)
ECU (2-0)
The Citadel (0-7)
Time – 3:34 A-71