Feb. 22, 2008

HATTIESBURG, Miss. ----- The UAB men's tennis team opened play here at the Conference USA Shootout by edging past East Carolina, 4-3.

The Blazers (2-1) and Pirates (4-3) played their singles matches first, switching from the usual doubles-first format because of the threat of inclement weather returning to the area.

It was the UAB doubles tandem of Brian Ly and Hans Spangenberg who provided the clinching victory as they claimed a hard-fought 9-8 win over ECU's Aleksey Kochetov and Henrik Skalmerud at the No. 2 spot. In the process, Ly and Spangenberg fought back from being a break down on two occasions.

The teams split the six singles matches as UAB captured wins at the No. 2, 3 and 4 positions. Spangenberg took a 6-3, 6-4 win over the Pirates Kochetov at No. 2 while Tyrone Ewels was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Henrique Viana at the No. 3 position.

The Blazers got their final singles point at No. 4 as Dan Cornei outlasted East Carolina's Skalmerud, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Cornei had also been part of a winning team in doubles as he teamed with Alex Emery to defeat the Pirates' Bryan Oakley and Stephen Whitwell, 8-6.

The Blazers dropped an 8-5 match at No. 1 doubles as Jaroslav Horvath and Henrique Viana downed Ewels and Slawomir Szeremeta.

ECU's three wins came at No. 1, 5 and 6 singles. At No. 1, Jaroslav Horvath beat Szeremeta, 7-6, 6-0 with Oakley rallying at No. 5 singles over Ly by a score of 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. At the No. 6 position, Whitwell won in straight sets over UAB's Thomas Petrich.

"We were fortunate to come away with a win today," said UAB head coach Derek Tarr. "I was hoping that we would play better than we did. I think we were a bit rusty having not played a dual match in awhile and I think we took them a little lightly. Coming into the match, I had tried to emphasize to the guys that every match was going to be tough here."

UAB is back in action Saturday for the four-team, round robin event when it plays UCF at 9:00 a.m.

Conference USA Shootout

Feb. 22, 2008

UAB 4, East Carolina 3

Singles

No. 1 - Jaroslav Horvath (ECU) def. Slawomir Szeremeta (UAB) 7-6, 6-0

No. 2 - Hans Spangenberg (UAB) def. Aleksey Kochetov (ECU) 6-3, 6-4

No. 3 - Tyrone Ewels (UAB) def. Henrique Viana (ECU) 6-3, 6-3

No. 4 - Dan Cornei (UAB) def. Henrik Skalmerud (ECU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2

No. 5 - Bryan Oakley (ECU) def. Brian Ly (UAB) 0-6, 6-3, 6-3

No. 6 - Stephen Whitwell (ECU) def. Thomas Petrich (UAB) 6-1, 6-1

Doubles

No. 1 - Horvath-Viana (ECU) def. Ewels-Szeremeta (UAB) 8-5

No. 2 - Ly-Spangenberg (UAB) def. Kochetov-Skalmerud (ECU) 9-8

No. 3 - Cornei-Alex Emery (UAB) def. Oakley-Whitwell (ECU) 8-6

Records: UAB 2-1; ECU 4-3