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Men's Tennis Set to Open C-USA Championship Thursday at Home

April 18, 2012

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By David Buchman
UCFAthletics.com

Championship Central

ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF men's tennis team is scheduled to open play at the Conference USA Championship Thursday with a 2 p.m. match against East Carolina. The event, running through Sunday, is being held at the UCF Tennis Complex with complimentary admission all four days.

The Knights (9-12) enter play in the C-USA Championship holding a 7-6 record at home, which includes wins in their previous three matches at the UCF Tennis Complex.

Seniors Joe Delinks and Eugene Dolgovykh hope to finish their UCF careers on a high note as the Knights will look to advance to the quarterfinals to face No. 1 seed Tulsa at 8 a.m. Friday.

UCF holds a 3-2 all-time record against the Pirates, including a 1-1 record in C-USA Championship play. The two teams most recently faced off in a Championship match April 23, 2010, when UCF won the event 4-2.

East Carolina (13-10) will begin play with a 1-4 record in its previous five matches, with three of those losses coming against C-USA opponents. On the season, the Pirates are 0-4 against C-USA teams with losses to Memphis, UAB, Southern Miss and Tulane.

The Pirates are led in singles by sophomore Joran Vliegan who holds a 14-5 record. ECU's top double's pair is Vliegan and freshman Nicolas Soriano who hold an 8-4 overall mark in doubles competition.