ECU Hosts William & Mary | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of ECU Sports.



    GREENVILLE, N.C.     After a busy week that saw four matches in four days, the East Carolina women's tennis team has regrouped before hosting William & Mary on Wednesday afternoon.

    East Carolina (2-9) is playing its second straight home match after a 4-0 loss to No. 67 Penn State. Although the scoreline did not reflect it, the loss to the Nittany Lions was closer than it appeared as the singles matches went to a third set on five of the six courts. That closed out a week that saw ECU drop back-to-back heartbreaking 4-3 losses at Georgetown and George Washington while also falling 4-0 at Maryland.

    Alisha Hussain and Ines Bachir are tied for the team lead with eight singles wins each, including four apiece in dual matches. Martina Muzzolon played the first nine matches on court one and has six wins on the season while Isabella Rivera Ortiz has moved up to play the past two matches on the top court. In doubles, Bachir and Hussain have a pair of wins on court one. Ortiz and Anne Lou Champion have the most wins of a Pirate tandem, with five, while Alisa Diercksen and Sofia Cerezo Holgado are 3-4 together as a pairing.

    William & Mary (3-6) is coming off a pair of losses last weekend, falling to No. 26 Iowa State 6-1 and losing 4-3 to Liberty. That made it five straight losses for the Tribe and all nine matches have been at home. William & Mary will be on the road for the first time this season and the Tribe is led by Mila Saric, who is ranked No. 81 in the ITA national singles rankings. Saric is 16-4 this season, including 6-2 on court one and 2-2 against nationally ranked opponents. Hedda Gurholt is second on the team with a 15-7 record, going 5-3 on court two while Raffaela Alhach (11-11) and Emma Fernald (10-8) have each hit double figures. In doubles, Saric and Gurholt have held down the top spot, going 4-4 on court one. Alhach leads the team with 10 doubles victories and has gone 3-3 on court two as a duo with Elisa Van Meeteren.

    East Carolina and William & Mary have met six times since 1986, with the Tribe winning all six matchups. It will be just the second all-time meeting between the two programs in Greenville, with the first being a 7-0 William & Mary victory in 2001. The two schools have met three times in the past 10 years, the most recent a 4-2 William & Mary win on Feb. 22, 2020.

    First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m., on Wednesday afternoon at River Birch Tennis Complex. Admission is free for all fans.