Dominant Singles Play Helps ECU Top Presbyterian

Saturday, March 23

Greenville, N.C.

12 Noon

East Carolina University

Presbyterian College

Photo by: Rob Taylor

March 23, 2019 | Men's Tennis

Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. – A dominant singles effort helped the ECU men's tennis overcome Presbyterian 5-2 on Saturday afternoon at River Birch Tennis Complex.

"Give Presbyterian a lot of credit, they played really well in the doubles and got off to an early lead on us," said head coach Shawn Heinchon. "I thought our guys did a great job of getting out there and getting to work and taking care of singles. We really benefited from our upper classmen getting off to early leads in singles, especially Vlad (Anghel). That's about the best singles I've seen him play in a long time."

ECU (13-4) improves to 7-1 at home this season and has now won two matches in a row. Presbyterian (10-11) drops under .500 for the first time this season.

The Pirates could not get their footing at all in the doubles play. ECU fell behind early on all three courts and did not fully recover. A break point for ECU on court three tied that court at 4-4, but Alberto Conde and Vance Mercer won the final two games to beat Vlad Anghel and Will Bissett 6-4. The point was clinched when Oscar Alvarez and Daniel Stenger topped Wisse Jonker and Javier Renones 6-2 on the top court.

Trailing 1-0 in the team score, ECU responded at the start of singles. Bissett and Ronny Georgi had little resistance in winning first sets on courts six and five respectively, while Anghel, Renones and Jonker all took the final few games to win their own first sets. Only Marques (on the top court) dropped his first set.

Bissett's dominance extended to the second set and he cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Mercer to tie the score at 1-1.

ECU took the lead when Anghel closed out a win on court two. The senior beat Max Benson 6-3, 6-3 on court two. His classmate, Georgi, added a third point with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Jaime Castillo-Lopez on court five.

Marques had been the only Pirate to lose his first set, but the freshman stormed back in the second set. Marques took the middle set 6-1 to force a third. There, the Setubal, Portugal product continued to dominate, taking a 5-1 lead en route to an eventual 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.

ECU added an insurance point when Renones beat Alvarez 6-4, 7-5 on court three. The Blue Hose got their only singles win of the day in a third-set tiebreaker when Jonker fell to Conde 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5) on court four.

ECU will take on American foe Temple next Saturday. That match is scheduled for 10 a.m., in Philadelphia.

Singles Results
1. Diogo Marques (ECU) def. Daniel Stenger (Pres) 1-6, 6-1, 6-2
2. Vlad Anghel (ECU) def. Max Benson (Pres) 6-3, 6-3
3. Javier Renones (ECU) def. Oscar Alvarez (Pres) 6-4, 7-5
4. Alberto Conde (Pres) def. Wisse Jonker (Pres) 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5)
5. Ronny Georgi (ECU) def. Jaime Castill-Lopez (Pres) 6-2, 6-4
6. Will Bissett (ECU) def. Vance Mercer (Pres) 6-1, 6-1

Doubles Results
1. Oscar Alvarez/Daniel Stenger (Pres) def. Wisse Jonker/Javier Renones (ECU) 6-3
2. Austin Allen/Diogo Marques (ECU) vs. Max Benson/Jaime Castillo-Lopez 6-5, unfinished
3. Alberto Conde/Vance Mercer (Pres) def. Vlad Anghel/Will Bissett (ECU) 6-4

Match Notes
Presbyterian 10-11
ECU 13-4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (6,2,5,1,3,4)