ECU women’s tennis splits weekend play

After a dominant 4-0 sweep against the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (3-7), the East Carolina University women’s tennis team (6-7) headed south to Conway, South Carolina to take on the Coastal Carolina University Chanticleers (6-3).

ECU lost 1-4 to Coastal Carolina on Saturday, but the scoreboard at Stevens Tennis Complex didn’t quite tell the whole story of the highly competitive play on Saturday.

Court three finished first with the Pirates pairing of junior Victoria Dixon and freshman Hannah Axelsson losing 2-6 to Chanticleers freshman Flaminia Scara and senior Alexa Tiefel. Courts one and two proved to be a bit more competitive as court one finished 6-4 in favor of Coastal Carolina leaving the nearly completed court three match to go unfinished 5-4 with the Pirates in the lead.

The Pirates on court two were junior Ho Chiao Hsia and sophomore Michelle Ncube up against senior Alicja Zduniak and freshman Valentina Urelli. Court one showcased Pirates senior Lisa Hofbauer and freshman Sibel Tanik taking on CCU’s pair of juniors Jessie Mount and Somer Dolla-Bona.

After the competitive play in the doubles round, the Pirates began the singles round down 1-0 and very quickly found themselves down 2-0 after Pirate junior Sofia Anthony went down to senior Maria Khomchenko 6-1, 6-0. The first and only win of the day for the Pirates would come from Hsia who put Urelli away handedly 6-1, 6-4.

Friday’s contest with UNCW went much smoother for the Pirates as they handled the Seahawks in their 4-0 sweep.

The Pirates jumped out to a quick lead after winning the early doubles point. Winners in doubles for the Pirates were Hofbauer and Tanik and the pairing of Michelle Ncube and Hannah Axelsson who played as a pair for the first time in Friday’s doubles match.

Hofbauer and Tanik took down the very competitive Seahawks pairing of junior Rachel Marthinsen and Matute in thrilling fashion, winning 7-6. Ncube and Axelsson saw just as much resistance in their 7-5 victory over junior Sarah Horn and freshman Sarah Merrill. The Pirates are 5-1 this season when they win the doubles point.

In singles, Hofbauer took on UNCW senior Celeste Matute. The senior showdown saw Hofbauer winning in just two sets with a final tallie of 6-0, 6-4.

On paper, the victory from Hofbauer appears to be a dominant showing and it was in the first set, but the second set saw Hofbauer go down 1-4 early. She would battle back to win the set and match with an impressive five game run.

Gritty performances like these are what East Carolina head coach, Kirstin Burgess expects from her team captain.

“She’s having a fantastic year,” Burgess said. “She’s stepped up as a senior, she’s stepped up as a leader, she’s stepped up as a captain and she really is showing everybody how to stick in there even when it’s not your best day.”

The Pirates swept UNCW on Friday to earn Kirstin Burgess her first win as ECU head coach!📰https://t.co/yPOFywdXK2 pic.twitter.com/FvireM0sQm

— ECU Women's Tennis (@ecuwtennis) March 6, 2020

Friday’s contest was not as simple as winning more points than the other squad. The weather played an interesting role as wind speeds got as high as 16 mph. With winds more than strong enough to effect play on the court, coach Burgess made sure the Pirates had their emotions in check.

“I told the girls at the beginning of the match that if they see someone do something silly because of the wind, smile with them, laugh with them,” Burgess said. “The only thing you can do is stay patient and laugh about things like that because today was crazy, it was incredibly windy and the most disciplined and the most patient person won today.”

The Pirates will be back in action on March 20 and looking to add another to the win column against Davidson College (5-5, 1-1 A10).