Pirates Host Bryant And Georgia Southern

Match 10: Bryant (6-11) at ECU (7-2)
Date	Friday, February 21
Time	2 PM (EST)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (ECU Indoor Tennis Center)
Social Media	Twitter: @ecutennisM Instagram: @ecumenstennis Facebook: ECU Men's Tennis

Match 11: Georgia Southern (8-6) at ECU (7-2)
Date	Sunday, February 23
Time	12 noon (EST)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (River Birch Tennis Complex)
Social Media	Twitter: @ecutennisM Instagram: @ecumenstennis Facebook: ECU Men's Tennis

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The ECU men's tennis team will try to keep its undefeated home record alive as the Pirates host Bryant and Georgia Southern this weekend.

"Big weekend in store for us, that's for sure," said head coach Shawn Heinchon. "We played Bryant last year at their place and I was very impressed at how intense they were. They have a lot of guys back from last year and have played an unbelievable difficult schedule so far this year. They are a hard team to beat and we certainly can't take anything for granted just because we beat them last year. Georgia Southern is someone we pretty much play year in and year out and because of that, we have a nice rivalry with them. They're a very well coached team that has been playing great so far this year with some good wins in their season. We are going to need to be on point for Sunday's match."

ECU (7-2) has started the season with a perfect 5-0 record at home. The Pirates are coming off a weekend that saw them beat Hampton 7-0 at home before losing at VCU 6-1. Agustin Tamagnone finally dropped his first singles match of dual match season against VCU, but still leads the Pirates with a 16-6 singles ledger. Simon Labbe (16-9) also has 16 singles wins and is 4-1 on court three. Diogo Marques continues to lead the way on court one, going 6-2 there and 14-2 overall. Javier Renones (10-8) and Wisse Jonker (11-8) are the two most experienced Pirates and have gone 6-2 and 7-2, respectively, since the calendar turned to 2020. Rounding out the six Pirates with at least 10 singles wins is Federico Masetti, as the rookie from Ferrara, Italy is 14-6.

In doubles, Marques and Masetti have provided an anchor at the bottom of the lineup, going 7-1 together and 5-1 on court three. Labbe and Tamagnone lost for the first time in dual matches against the Rams, but are 7-2 overall and 4-1 on court one as a duo. Rounding out the ECU tandems is Jonker and Renones who are 4-2 together this spring and 33-13 in their careers.

Bryant (6-11) has already played 10 road matches and struggles away from home, going just 1-9 on the road. The Bulldogs have won three of their last four, with the only loss against St. John's. ECU will be the second AAC opponent on Bryant's schedule, as the Bulldogs lost consecutive 6-1 matches at Tulsa earlier this season. Wilson Dong has played all of his matches on court one, but has struggled to just a 5-14 record. Jorge Isaias Ortiz-Garcia leads the team with a 9-9 record. Dong has played doubles on court one with Trent Massam, but the pairing have gone 4-7 together. The two teams met for the first time last year in Cumberland, R.I. ECU left with a 4-2 win as Renones and Jonker won both singles and doubles matches.

Georgia Southern (8-6) started the season just 2-5, but has won six of its last seven matches. The Eagles were on a six-match winning streak before a 5-2 loss at Stetson snapped that. Alexander Roumpis leads the team with an 18-7 overall record and he is 9-3 in dual matches. Pascal Wagemaker is 15-7 and has a perfect 9-0 mark on court three. On the top court, Murphy McCollough is 4-7 on court one and 10-12 overall. In doubles, Diego Finkelstein and Roumpis are a team-best 10-6, although the pairing is just 4-3 in dual matches. McCollough and Santiago Suarez have spent the majority of the matches on the top court, going 5-4 there. It will be the first time the two teams have met since 2018 when ECU won 4-1 in Greenville. Renones earned a singles win that day, playing on court five.

ECU will take on Bryant on Friday afternoon at the ECU Indoor Tennis Center, with first serve scheduled for 2 p.m. On Sunday, the Pirates will host Georgia Southern at the River Birch Tennis Complex with that match getting started at 12 noon.

Players Mentioned

Wisse Jonker

Simon Labbe

Diogo Marques

Federico Masetti

Javier Renones

Agustin Tamagnone

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