ECU Mens Tennis

Kasey Countee is a senior on the ECU Men's Tennis team.

The East Carolina University men’s and women’s tennis teams will be busy this weekend as each team prepares for its away matches.

The men will make a further trip, heading to Lafayette, Louisiana, where they will take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in a double header tomorrow, then Tennessee Tech University on Saturday. The women’s team will enjoy a coastal trip to Wilmington to take on the University of North Carolina at Wilmington tomorrow, before heading to Conway, South Carolina to face Coastal Carolina University on Saturday.

Both teams are heading into their road trips riding a wave of confidence after stellar performances in their matches last weekend. Both the men and the women captured two wins, including both teams’ first conference win over Temple University, last week.

“We’ve been playing a little better every time we go out,” women’s head coach Tom Morris said. “It’s a good feeling to beat Temple even though it’s a little early for conference matches, but I think everyone is starting to feel a little more comfortable and getting into a stride.”

ECU’s tennis teams are off to a great start to the spring season with the men boasting an 8-1 record while the women sit at 5-2. One of the women’s two losses came against the No.1 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. According to men’s head coach Shawn Heinchon, the team is determined to continue that success.

“The team’s confidence is pretty high,” Heinchon said. “There’s never a bad thing about having a good record. Our main focus is always making sure that we are keying in on what’s next, and right now, it’s the matches this weekend.”

The men will face a long day tomorrow opening their double header at 9 a.m against Texas A&M CC then start game two nine hours later against Louisiana Lafayette, starting at 6 p.m. The team is no stranger to packed days after its double header sweep against Winthrop University (5-2) and Chowan University (6-1) earlier this season on Jan. 28.

The Pirate women have proven they can succeed on a road trip as well. The team took to the road earlier this month to play in-state opponents Campbell University (Feb. 3), the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (Feb 9) and North Carolina State University (Feb. 15). They finished 2-1 on the trip, defeating Campbell (5-2) and UNCG (6-1) but losing a hard-fought match to NC State (2-5).

The women head into their away matches looking to continue the success they found at home last weekend in their double header while still building chemistry.

“We spent all day together Saturday,” sophomore Nastja Rettich said. “Our team chemistry is so good right now and I think that is a very important thing.”

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