PIrates Lose 4-3 Heartbreaker Against Elon

Friday, February 28

Greenville, N.C.

2 PM

East Carolina University

Elon

Photo by: Rob Taylor

February 28, 2020 | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. – A third-set tiebreaker went the wrong way as the ECU women's tennis team fell to Elon 4-3 on Friday afternoon at the River Birch Tennis Complex.

"I felt like we had that one on our rackets," said associate head coach Kirstin Burgess. "Credit to Elon, they did not give in and they did not go away. We will have to take some time to figure out what went wrong today and go from there."

ECU falls to 3-6 on the season and 0-1 at home while Elon is now 10-4.

The match could not have started much better for the Pirates. Michelle Ncube and Minette Van Vreden, playing doubles together for the first time this season, beat Shauna Galvin and Nicole Shiau 6-4 on court three. The Pirates clinched the opening point when Lisa Hofbauer and Sibel Tanik topped Alex Koniaev and Olivia Archer 6-2 on the top court.

ECU's momentum continued into singles. Hofbauer made short work of Koniaev on court one, winning 6-1, 6-3 to move to 5-3 in dual matches. Van Vreden was not far behind Hofbauer, getting a 6-3, 6-1 win over Galvin on court five to give ECU a 3-0 lead.

However, ECU struggled to find the clinching point. Elon struck with back-to-back wins. The first came when Kiana Rizzolo topped Ncube 6-3, 6-4 on court four. The Phoenix added another point through Archer's 6-2, 6-4 win against Rettich on court three.

The match came down to a pair of three-set thrillers. On court two, Tanik had won the first set against Victoria Saldh before Saldh forced a third-set. On court six, Ho Chiao Hsia fell behind Sofia Edo, but bounced back to win her second set.

Hsia fell behind Edo early in the third set and tried to fight back, but came up one break point short as Edo closed out a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win to tie the match at three. On the other end, Tanik went up early on Saldh, but could not get the clinching match point, with Saldh forcing a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker got away from Tanik early and although she tried to make a late surge, Saldh was too much and earned a 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) win to clinch.

ECU will play a pair of home matches on Saturday. First, the Pirates will square off with George Washington at 10 a.m., before battling NC Central at 3 p.m. Both matches will take place at the River Birch Tennis Complex.

Singles Results
1. Lisa Hofbauer (ECU) def. Alex Koniaev (Elon) 6-1, 6-3
2. Victoria Saldh (Elon) def. Sibel Tanik (ECU) 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
3. Olivia Archer (Elon) def. Nastja Rettich (ECU) 6-2, 6-4
4. Kiana Rizzolo (Elon) def. Michelle Ncube (ECU) 6-3, 6-4
5. Minette Van Vreden (ECU) def. Shauna Galvin (Elon) 6-3, 6-1
6. Sofia Edo (Elon) def. Ho Chiao Hsia (ECU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4

Doubles Results
1. Lisa Hofbauer/Sibel Tanik (ECU) def. Alex Koniaev/Olivia Archer (Elon) 6-2
2. Nastja Rettich/Ho Chiao Hsia (ECU) vs. Sofia Edo/Victoria Saldh (Elon) 5-4, unfinished
3. Michelle Ncube/Minette Van Vreden (ECU) def. Shauna Galvin/Nicole Shiau (Elon) 6-4

Order of Finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (1,5,4,3,6,2)