Pirates Fall To UNC Asheville 4-3

Sunday, February 3

Greenville, N.C.

12 Noon

East Carolina University

UNC Asheville

Photo by: Rob Taylor

February 03, 2019 | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. – After five wins to start the season, the ECU men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the year, falling to UNC Asheville 4-3 on Sunday afternoon inside the ECU Indoor Tennis Center.

"I give a lot of credit to UNC Asheville," said head coach Shawn Heinchon. "Tom's (Hand) done a great job with his team and they were just flat-out stronger than we were today. I don't really feel there's any such thing as a good loss, but I'm a big believer that you learn more about yourself when you lose than you do when you win. Hopefully we can take the positives that we need to make sure we're learning from where we can grow and that can help us moving forward."

Despite the loss, ECU (5-1) is still off to the second best start in Heinchon's tenure while Asheville (4-0) stays undefeated.

The day got off to a bad start for ECU as the Pirates did not win the doubles point. Diogo Marques and Ronny Georgi dueled with Asheville's No. 2 ranked duo of Henry Patten and Oli Nolan on court one, but a break point late in the match helped the Bulldog duo win 6-4. On court two, Wisse Jonker and Vlad Anghel fell behind early and dropped a 6-3 match to Olly Cull and Sirawit Daosaengsawang.

ECU's woes continued into singles. Marques trailed Patten 4-1 in the opening set, but closed the gap to 4-3. That was as close as Marques got though, with Patten winning eight of the next nine games for a 6-3, 6-1 victory. UNC Asheville got one point away from clinching the match when Anghel fell to Nolan 6-2, 6-4.

UNC Asheville clinched the match in three-set battle. Jonker made short work of Morkel in the first set, winning 6-2. In the second, the shoe was on the other foot, with Morkel running away with a 6-3 advantage. In the third and final set, neither could get much of an advantage as neither took more than a one game lead. Finally, with the match tied at 5-5, Jonker could not hold serve while Morkel was able to protect his own serve to finish the 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 win.

There were some bright spots for ECU after the match had been decided. Georgi topped Daosaengsawang 6-4, 6-3 to get the Pirates on the scoreboard.

The match came to a conclusion with a pair of three set matches. In both matches, ECU lost the first set but battled back to claim the second set and then win in a tiebreaker.
The first was on court five, where Bissett beat Cull 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8). On court six, Austin Allen topped Fender 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 1-0 (10-8).

ECU will have the week off before hitting the courts on Friday, Feb. 8 against Richmond.

Singles Results
1. Henry Patten (UNCA) def. Diogo Marques (ECU) 6-3, 6-1
2. Oli Nolan (UNCA) def. Vlad Anghel (ECU) 6-2, 6-4
3. Charlie Morkel (UNCA) def. Wisse Jonker (ECU) 2-6, 6-3, 7-5
4. Ronny Georgi (ECU) def. Sirawit Daosaengsawang (UNCA) 6-4, 6-3
5. Will Bissett (ECU) def. Olly Cull (UNCA) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8)
6. Austin Allen (ECU) def. Quinn Fender (UNCA) 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 1-0 (10-8)

Doubles Results
1. No. 2 Oli Nolan/Henry Patten (UNCA) def. Ronny Georgi/Diogo Marques (ECU) 6-4
2. Sirawit Daosaengsawang/Olly Cull (UNCA) def. Vlad Anghel/Wisse Jonker (ECU) 6-3
3. Will Bissett/Simon Labbe (ECU) vs. Quinn Fender/Charlie Morkel (UNCA) 5-5, unfinished

Match Notes
UNC Asheville 4-0
ECU 5-1
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (1,2,3,4,5,6)