ECU Kicks Off Fall Season At Jimmy Taylor Invite

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina women's tennis program officially begins its fall slate Sept. 13-14 with participation in the Jimmy Powell Invitational hosted by Elon.

Teams Competing: ECU, Elon Liberty, N.C. Central and Virginia Tech

Format: There will be no advantage for singles and doubles. Singles will play a 10-point tiebreaker for the third set while doubles will consist of one six-game set with no advantage.

Scoring: The tournament winner will be determined based on a points system. Six points for winning a match in the No. 1 flight, five points for winning a match in the No. 2 flight, four points for winning a match in the No. 3 flight, etc. Flights 6-8 will award one point for each match won. Scoring will be the same for doubles.

Anticipated Tournament Schedule
Friday, September 13
9:00 a.m. - First round of doubles
10:00 a.m. - First round of singles
1:00 p.m. - Second round of singles

Saturday, September 14th
9:00 a.m. - Second round of doubles
10:00 a.m. - Third round of doubles
12:00 p.m. - Third round of singles

Looking Back
The Pirates put together an 11-8 dual record back in the spring, marking the first winning campaign for ECU since it went 22-3 in 2019. Kim Auerswald and Martina Muzzolon topped the club in singles victories with 10 apiece while Ines Bachir produced nine. As for doubles play, Muzzolon and Kexuan Zhou teamed up to notch an impressive 11-1 record and were 9-1 at the No. 2 position. East Carolina protected home court admirably, winning six of seven matches with victories over Chowan, Campbell, Elon, UNC Greensboro, Davidson and Norfolk State. The Pirates would end the season with a 4-1 setback to North Texas in the first round of the American Athletic Conference Championship.

Looking Ahead
East Carolina is set to build on last season's success, returning seven players in Auerswald, Bachir, Muzzolon, Anne Lou Champion, Brooke LaFrenz, Joan Madi and Isabella Rivera Ortiz. Head Coach Kirstin Burgess also welcomes freshmen Xenia Jeromin (Aurich, Germany) and Lilly Lancaster (Cumming, Ga.) into the fold.

In January of 2023, the NCAA Division I Competition Oversight Committee approved a two-year pilot program to hold the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Individual Championships in the fall of 2024 and 2025. Baylor will host the first of these fall individual championships from Nov. 19-24 in Waco, Texas. The AAC Individual Championships take place Oct. 24-27 at Rice's George R. Brown Tennis Center in Houston, Texas.

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Players Mentioned

Kim Auerswald

Ines Bachir

Anne Lou Champion

Xenia Jeromin

Brooke LaFrenz

Lilly Lancaster

Joan Madi

Martina Muzzolon

Isabella Rivera Ortiz

Kexuan Zhou

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