Pirates Come Up Just Short At St. John's

Friday, February 7

Queens, NY

1:15 PM

East Carolina University

St. John's

Photo by: Rob Taylor

February 07, 2020 | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score

QUEENS, N.Y. – In its first road test of the season, the ECU men's tennis team battled St. John's, but fell 4-3 on Friday afternoon at the USTA National Tennis Center.

"What a great college tennis match," said head coach Shawn Heinchon. "We lost, but I'm super proud of our work today. This was one of the more hostile road tennis environments we've been in a long time and it was awesome. Congrats to St. John's, they were just a little bit better down the stretch. I would be remiss if I did not thank our alumni and the parents of some of ours players and coaches for coming out today. It was great to have their support."

ECU falls to 4-1 on the season while St. John's improves to 8-1.

For the first time in five matches, the Pirates fell behind as the Red Storm won the doubles point. On court two, Wisse Jonker and Javier Renones lost for the first time this fall as they fell to Djuro Opacic and Louis-Nils Michel 6-4. St. John's clinched the point when Aditya Vashistha and Udayan Bhakar topped Diogo Marques and Simon Labbe 6-4 on court three.

The singles play turned out to be a battle with the match needing all six to separate the two teams. St. John's struck first when Ignacio Garcia beat Renones 6-3, 6-2 on court two.

However, the Pirates answered back with a pair of wins of their own. Jonker won his match against Guiseppe de Camelis 6-3, 7-5 on court five. Agustin Tamagnone continued his undefeated start to the spring by beating Opacic 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 on court four.

The two teams split the next two matches to extend the match. Vashistha knocked off Marques 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) on court one to help St. John's regain the lead. But Masetti, who had dropped his first set in a tiebreaker, rattled off two straight dominant sets to beat Felcher 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-1 on court six.

The match came down to Labbe and Bhakar on court two. Labbe had won the first set in a tiebreaker, but Bhakar got a set of his own to send it to the deciding set. There, Bhakar pulled out the lead to clinch the match for the Red Storm, finishing 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-3.

ECU will have an immediate chance to bounce back as the Pirates take on Hofstra on Saturday night. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m., at Sportime in Bethpage, N.Y.

Singles Results
1. Aditya Vashistha (St. John's) def. Diogo Marques (ECU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
2. Udayan Bhakar (St. John's) def. Simon Labbe (ECU) 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-3
3. Ignacio Garcia (St. John's) def. Javier Renones (ECU) 6-3, 6-2
4. Agustin Tamagnone (ECU) def. Djuro Opacic (St. John's) 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
5. Wisse Jonker (ECU) def. Guiseppe de Camelis (St. John's) 6-3, 7-5
6. Federico Masetti (ECU) def. Felcher (St. John's) 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-1

Doubles Results
1. Simon Labbe/Agustin Tamagnone (ECU) vs. Ignacio Garcia/Charlie James (St. John's) 4-5
2. Djuro Opacic/Louis-Nils Michel (St. John's) def. Wisse Jonker/Javier Renones (ECU) 6-4
3. Aditya Vashistha/Udayan Bhakar (ST. John's) def. Diogo Marques/Simon Labbe (ECU) 6-4

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