Matchday: ECU To Meet SMU In AAC First Round

Match 21: No. 9 SMU (11-16) vs. No. 8 ECU (14-6)
Date	Thursday, April 18
Time	9 AM (EST)
Location	Tampa, Fla. (USTA National Campus)
Coverage	Watch Live \| Live Scoring
Social Media	Twitter: @ecutennisM Instagram: @ecumenstennis Facebook: ECU Men's Tennis

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The ECU men's tennis team earned the No. 8 seed in the American Athletic Conference Championship and will open the postseason against No. 9 seed SMU on Thursday morning at the USTA National Campus.

"It's always an exciting time of the year when it comes to conference tournament time," said head coach Shawn Heinchon. "Being in Orlando at such a great venue just makes it that much easier to be up for the challenge. We have a tough first round opponent in SMU that's for sure. It's been a few years since we had a chance to play them. We will need to play well if we are going to have a chance to win. It should be a great match and we are looking forward to it "

ECU (14-6) went 1-1 in the final weekend of the season, beating Campbell 4-2 at home before losing at Elon 4-1. The Pirates have been much better at home this season, going 8-1 in Greenville and just 6-5 on the road and in neutral sites. Javier Renones has come on strong for ECU, going 15-1 in dual matches and leads ECU with a 21-8 record. His doubles partner, Wisse Jonker is 19-12 and is 13-7 in dual matches. The pairing lead ECU with a 10-5 doubles mark and are 6-2 on court one. Four seniors will be looking to extend their ECU careers, with Vlad Anghel (15-13), Ronny Georgi (12-8) and Will Bissett (14-9) all competing in singles while Austin Allen has gone 10-4 in doubles matches.

The Pirates are 3-4 all-time in the AAC Championship and have reached the quarterfinals in each of the team's four trips to the conference tournament. ECU has been the No. 8 seed twice before, beating No. 9 UConn in both 2017 and 2016 before losing to No. 1 seeded USF in the quarterfinals on both occasions. Last season, ECU was the No. 7 seed and advanced to the quarterfinals with a win over No. 10 UConn. Vlad Anghel, Wisse Jonker and Ronny Georgi have all won singles matches in the conference's postseason tournament while Jonker combined with Javier Renones last year to win a doubles match.

SMU (11-16) lost its final five matches to finish the regular season. Four of those matches came against conference opponents, dropping contests to Tulane, Memphis, Wichita State and Tulsa. Carles Sarrio has been the top singles player for the Mustangs, racking up a 22-15 record and an 11-10 ledger on court one. Roberto Rosales (18-15), Jan-Simon Vrbsky (18-15) and Tomas Vaise (17-16) all have more than 15 wins as well. SMU's top doubles team is Vaise and Vrbsky, with the duo having gone 13-13 in total and 8-8 on court one. Huntley Allen and Sarrio are also 8-5, including 7-5 on court two. The last time the two teams met was in 2006 when the Mustangs eliminated ECU from the Conference USA Championship.

First serve is scheduled for 9 a.m., on Thursday morning. Fans can watch the match here or follow the live scoring here.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Austin Allen

Vlad Anghel

Will Bissett

Ronny Georgi

Wisse Jonker

Javier Renones

Footer