Matchday: Pirates Open AAC Championship Against Cincinnati

Match 25: No. 10 Cincinnati (11-10) at No. 7 ECU (22-2)
Date	Wednesday, April 17
Time	12 noon (EST)
Location	Tampa, Fla. (USTA National Campus)
Coverage	Watch Live \| Live Scoring
Social Media	Twitter: @ecuwtennis Instagram: @ecuwtennis Facebook: ECU Pirates Women's Tennis

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Riding a program-best 22-match winning streak, the ECU women's tennis team earned the No. 7 seed in the American Athletic Conference Championship and will open the tournament against No. 10 Cincinnati on Wednesday afternoon.

ECU (22-2) is on a historic winning streak, having won 20 games for the first time in program history while the 22-match winning streak to end the regular season is the longest of any ECU team. Along with the team's winning streak, individual Pirates have streaks going. Celia Ruiz (19-3) has won 17 straight singles matches and is a dominant 15-1 on court two. Nastja Rettich (21-6) has won 13 matches in a row and trails only Alisa Diercksen (23-9) for the team lead in singles victories. In doubles, Ruiz and Minette Van Vreden lost their first match as a pair, but have not lost since and are 15-1 this season.

ECU is just 1-4 all-time in the AAC Championship. The only win came in the 2017 tournament when the sixth-seeded Pirates topped 11th-seeded UConn 4-3. Ruiz and Rettich both won singles matches in that match. Ruiz has been the most successful ECU player in the postseason, going 3-0 in her career at the AAC Championship. Along with Ruiz and Rettich, Lisa Hofbauer has a postseason singles victory under her belt after winning in last season's 4-3 loss to Tulane and will be looking to continue her strong play on the top court, where she is 14-3 this season. It will be the first postseason appearance for freshmen Van Vreden (17-11) and Martina Paladini-Jennings (17-8) who have been fixtures in the lineup during their debut campaign.

The Pirates will be very familiar with Cincinnati (11-10), having just battled the Bearcats during the final weekend of the regular season. ECU went up 3-0 in that match, but needed a dramatic three-set tiebreaker win from Hofbauer to holdoff Cincinnati and win 4-3. Four Bearcats have at least 14 singles wins, led by Maria Santilli's 22-5 ledger. Along with Santilli, Caroline Morton (20-11) and Emma Miceli (19-8) won their respective singles matches against ECU while Antonella Bramato (14-10) just missed beating Hofbauer on court one. In doubles, Bramato and Alexia Coutino lead Cincinnati with an 18-11 record and play on court one. Miceli and Morton are also 13-9 as a duo.

The first round matchup is scheduled to start at 12 noon on Wednesday afternoon at the USTA National Campus. Fans can stream the match here or follow the live stats here.

Matchday: Pirates Open AAC Championship Against Cincinnati

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Players Mentioned

Alisa Diercksen

Lisa Hofbauer

Martina Paladini-Jennings

Nastja Rettich

Celia Ruiz

Minette Van Vreden

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