Pirates Take Down Temple 4-2

Saturday, March 23

Philadelphia, PA

6:30 PM

East Carolina University

Temple University

Photo by: Rob Taylor

March 23, 2019 | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, PA. – A slight weather delay was not enough to throw the ECU women's tennis team off its rhythm as the Pirates beat Temple 4-2 on Saturday evening to continue its winning streak.

"I thought our team played a very competitive match under a difficult situation," said head coach Tom Morris. "We had to move the start to 6:30 pm and didn't get much court time due to the weather, but we played very well in doubles and we seem to be playing really well as a team this year. The last two matches, we had not finished No. 3 doubles and today when we needed them, they were there for us in a big way. In singles, the folks that hadn't been finishing matches, got wins today. Nastja (Rettich) won a big match, Martina (Paladini-Jennings) won a big match and Alisa has been playing well. A good day for us overall against a solid Temple team."

ECU (17-2) wins its 17th straight match overall and is now 3-0 against AAC opponents this season. Temple (10-5) drops a home match for the first time in seven matches this season and is now 0-2 against American foes.

The Pirates won the doubles point for the 15th straight time. ECU's top tandem of Lisa Hofbauer and Alisa Diercksen had little trouble with Ruoyu Chen and Chunan Xiang on court one, winning 6-1. It was the 11th straight win for the pairing. The Pirates clinched the point when Nastja Rettich and Hsia Ho Chiao beat Kristina Titova and Stefaniya Surikova 6-2 on court three.

The singles matches were much closer than the doubles, with three of the six matches needing all three sets to separate the players. The one match that was a rout though, went to the Pirates. Diercksen was unstoppable on court three, running past Titova 6-0, 6-0 to give ECU a 2-0 lead.

The next singles match went to the Owls. Minette Van Vreden battled with Oleksandra Doroshenko in both sets, but each time came up just short, leading to a 6-4, 6-4 win for Doroshenko. However, ECU's two-point cushion was restored when Rettich was able to finish off a 6-3, 6-4 win over Yining Tian on court six.

With ECU one point away from clinching the match, the Pirates needed to win just one of the three matches that were headed to a third set. The first to finish of those three went to Temple when Chen beat Hofbauer 4-6, 6-0, 3-6 on the top court. But the second one was the charm for ECU as Martina Paladini-Jennings battled back from a first-set deficit to beat Xiang 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 and clinch the win for the Pirates.

ECU will be back on the courts next Saturday when the Pirates host Davidson at the River Birch Tennis Complex.

Singles Results
1. Ruoyo Chen (Temple) def. Lisa Hofbauer (ECU) 6-4, 0-6, 6-3
2. Celia Ruiz (ECU) vs. Stefaniya Surikova (Temple) 6-4, 4-6, 5-2, unfinished
3. Alisa Diercksen (ECU) def. Kristina Titova (Temple) 6-0, 6-0
4. Martina Paladini-Jennings (ECU) def. Chunan Xiang (Temple) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
5. Olaksandra Doroshenko (Temple) def. Minette Van Vreden (ECU) 6-4, 6-4
6. Nastja Rettich (ECU) def. Yining Tian (Temple) 6-3, 6-4

Doubles Results
1. Lisa Hofbauer/Alisa Diercksen (ECU) def. Ruoyo Chen/Chunan Xiang (Temple) 6-1
2. Celia Ruiz/Minette Van Vreden (ECU) vs. Alice Patch/Oyku Boz (Temple) 3-4
3. Nastja Rettich/Hsia Ho Chiao (ECU) def. Kristina Titova/Sefaniya Surikova (Temple) 6-2

Match Notes
Temple 10-5
ECU 17-2
Order of finish: Singles (3,5,6,1,4); Doubles (1,3)