ECU To Face Houston In AAC Tourney
April 19, 2022 | Women's Tennis
TULSA, Okla. - East Carolina will make its first American Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Championships appearance since 2019 when it faces Houston in first-round action Wednesday. The 11th-seeded Pirates will meet the No. 6 Cougars beginning at 10 a.m. (ET) at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
The 2020 AAC Championships were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic while ECU did not compete in the spring of 2021 after reinstating its program on Jan. 7 that season.
Other first-round battles Wednesday include No. 7 Cincinnati vs. No. 10 Wichita State (10 a.m.) and No. 8 Temple vs. No. 9 South Florida (1 p.m.). No. 1 UCF, No. 2 SMU, No. 3 Tulsa, No. 4 Memphis and No. 5 Tulane all earned opening-round byes and begin action in the quarterfinal round Thursday. The winner of the ECU-UH match will advance to face the No. 3-seeded Golden Hurricane at 10 a.m.
Coach Kirstin Burgess is in her first full season leading the ECU program after serving as interim head coach following the retirement of Tom Morris on March 1, 2020 before being formally appointed to the top position on Feb. 10, 2021. After a stellar playing career with the Pirates, she was initially hired as an assistant coach prior to the 2012-13 season and was elevated to associate head coach at the start of the 2017-18 campaign.
East Carolina's lineup features all freshmen with the exception of lone senior Alisa Diercksen. Alisha Hussain owns the program's top singles mark with an 11-11 overall record and a 7-8 dual match clip, playing primarily at the No. 2, No. 3 (3-0) and No. 4 slots. Ines Bachir has posted a 6-8 dual ledger, competing mostly at No. 5, while Martina Muzzolon has experienced the most action at the top of the lineup with 9-14 and 5-10 records in overall and dual match competition, respectively.
In doubles play, Anne Lou Champion and Isabella Rivera Ortiz have partnered for a team-best six wins, mostly at the No. 3 position. The tandem of Bachir and Hussain have captured five victories at No. 1 and will enter the championships on the three-match win streak.
The Pirates (4-14) will try to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2017, a tourney where they knocked off Connecticut in the first round before falling to SMU. The winner of the women's championship will earn The American's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Tennis Championships.
Seeds for the championships were determined by the ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings, which currently has four AAC members in its poll - UCF (No. 18), SMU (43), Tulsa (48) and Memphis (56).
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The 2020 AAC Championships were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic while ECU did not compete in the spring of 2021 after reinstating its program on Jan. 7 that season.
Other first-round battles Wednesday include No. 7 Cincinnati vs. No. 10 Wichita State (10 a.m.) and No. 8 Temple vs. No. 9 South Florida (1 p.m.). No. 1 UCF, No. 2 SMU, No. 3 Tulsa, No. 4 Memphis and No. 5 Tulane all earned opening-round byes and begin action in the quarterfinal round Thursday. The winner of the ECU-UH match will advance to face the No. 3-seeded Golden Hurricane at 10 a.m.
Coach Kirstin Burgess is in her first full season leading the ECU program after serving as interim head coach following the retirement of Tom Morris on March 1, 2020 before being formally appointed to the top position on Feb. 10, 2021. After a stellar playing career with the Pirates, she was initially hired as an assistant coach prior to the 2012-13 season and was elevated to associate head coach at the start of the 2017-18 campaign.
East Carolina's lineup features all freshmen with the exception of lone senior Alisa Diercksen. Alisha Hussain owns the program's top singles mark with an 11-11 overall record and a 7-8 dual match clip, playing primarily at the No. 2, No. 3 (3-0) and No. 4 slots. Ines Bachir has posted a 6-8 dual ledger, competing mostly at No. 5, while Martina Muzzolon has experienced the most action at the top of the lineup with 9-14 and 5-10 records in overall and dual match competition, respectively.
In doubles play, Anne Lou Champion and Isabella Rivera Ortiz have partnered for a team-best six wins, mostly at the No. 3 position. The tandem of Bachir and Hussain have captured five victories at No. 1 and will enter the championships on the three-match win streak.
The Pirates (4-14) will try to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2017, a tourney where they knocked off Connecticut in the first round before falling to SMU. The winner of the women's championship will earn The American's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Tennis Championships.
Seeds for the championships were determined by the ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings, which currently has four AAC members in its poll - UCF (No. 18), SMU (43), Tulsa (48) and Memphis (56).
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