ECU Opens Season With Pair Of Home Matches

Match 1: NC Central (0-1) at ECU (0-0)
Date	Friday, January 24
Time	2:30 PM (EST)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (ECU Indoor Tennis Center)
Social Media	Twitter: @ecutennisM Instagram: @ecumenstennis Facebook: ECU Men's Tennis

Match 2: UNC Asheville (0-0) at ECU (0-0)
Date	Sunday, January 26
Time	12 noon (EST)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (ECU Indoor Tennis Center)
Social Media	Twitter: @ecutennisM Instagram: @ecumenstennis Facebook: ECU Men's Tennis

GREENVILLE, N.C. – With the first four matches of the 2020 season at home, the ECU men's tennis team will want to get the campaign started on the right foot, as the Pirates host North Carolina Central and UNC Asheville at the ECU Indoor Tennis Facility.

"We are ready to get things going, that's for sure," said head coach Shawn Heinchon. "There's always a bit of a fine line between trying to push our guys to get ready for the start of the spring season and staying in one healthy piece, but so far, so good. Our guys love competing and could not be more eager to kick things off this Friday at home."

ECU is coming off a season that saw the Pirates finish 14-7 and fall in the opening round of the AAC Championship. It will be a very different ECU team that will take the courts this weekend though, as just four players return from last year's squad.

The top returning player is sophomore Diogo Marques. Marques had one of the best rookie seasons in ECU history, going 19-11 in singles overall and 7-5 on court one. The Setubal, Portugal native has been even better at the start of his sophomore campaign, going 8-0 and winning his draw title at the Liberty Invitational. For his accomplishments, Marques was named the AAC Men's Tennis Player of the Month for September, the first Pirate to win the award, as well as becoming the first ECU player since Joran Vliegen in 2014, to be ranked in the ITA's single poll. Marques checks in at No. 103 in the country and is just the third Pirate to be ranked in the top-25.

Along with Marques, ECU returns three players from last year. Javier Renones is the only senior on the roster and led ECU with a 21-8 singles mark in 2018-19. Renones has started slowly in his final collegiate campaign, going just 4-6 during the fall, but will hope to turn it around in dual matches where he was 15-1 last year.

Junior Wisse Jonker and sophomore Simon Labbe round out the returnees. Jonker has racked up an impressive 37-16 singles record during his first two years in Greenville, going 19-11 last year. Labbe went just 6-9 during his rookie season, but leads ECU with an 11-6 record this fall, including going 4-1 at the ITA Carolina Regional Championships.

Of the four newcomers, Agustin Tamagnone brings the most experience. The Río Tercero, Córdoba, Argentina native arrives in Greenville after two seasons at Utah State where he went 26-16 in singles, earning the Big Sky Player of the Week award during his sophomore season. Tamagnone is 10-5 already this fall, trailing just Labbe for the team-lead in wins.

Three freshmen will be making their dual match debuts this weekend. Federico Masetti has had the most success so far of the three, going 7-4 in the fall. Nelson Stafford started his ECU career with a 5-6 fall season while Daniel Bird went 3-5.

On the doubles side, Jonker and Renones have been a potent partnership over the past two and a half years, going 29-11 together. However, the tandem was just 2-3 in the fall. The most successful Pirate pair in the fall was Labbe and Tamagnone, with the duo reaching the quarterfinals of the ITA Carolina Regional Championships, the first ECU pair since 2016 to do so. Labbe and Masetti have also played well together going 4-3.

NC Central went 5-13 last season and started its season with a 7-0 loss at No. 4 North Carolina. The Eagles will be looking to replace Gabriel Cucalon, who was their top singles player last season, going 11-4, all of which were on court one. Every other NC Central player finished below .500 on the year. Thanos Spyropoulos was second on the team with a 7-9 record and played on court one against the Tar Heels. Spyropoulos and Christos Dagklis are NC Central's top doubles tandem, going 5-9 last year.

UNC Asheville will also be starting its season this weekend, taking on NC Central on Sunday before matching up with the Pirates on Sunday afternoon. The Bulldogs finished last year with a 20-5 mark and had Oli Nolan and Henry Patten reach the NCAA Doubles Championship. They will have to replaces Patten who not only had success in doubles, but went 14-2 on court one in singles. Leo Bierbaum and Charlie Morkel both return after winning 16 matches each. Nolan went 11-8 in singles, most of which were played on court two.

First serve for ECU's match against NC Central is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., on Friday while the Pirates will take on UNC Asheville at 12 noon on Sunday. Both matches will be played at ECU Indoor Tennis Center and will be free to attend.

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Players Mentioned

Daniel Bird

Wisse Jonker

Simon Labbe

Diogo Marques

Federico Masetti

Javier Renones

Nelson Stafford

Agustin Tamagnone

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