Jan. 23, 2010

Virginia Wins Road Opener 6-1 at Illinois
The No. 2 Virginia men’s tennis team improved to 2-0 on the season as it won its road opener 6-1 Friday night at No. 15 Illinois. The Cavaliers quickly secured the victory, winning the doubles point and posting five straight-set singles wins to defeat the Illini in their season opener.

The Cavaliers took a 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point. No. 17 ranked Drew Courtney (Clifton, Va.) and Lee Singer (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) gave Virginia the early advantage as they cruised to an 8-1 win over Abe Souza and Connor Roth at the No. 3 position. Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) and Jarmere Jenkins (College Park, Ga.) clinched the opening point for UVa with an 8-6 win at No. 2 over Marek Czerwinski and Stephen Hoh. In the final doubles match, the Illini duo of Dennis Nevolo and Johnny Hamui topped Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) 8-5 at the top position.

Third-ranked Shabaz doubled the Cavalier lead early in singles with his 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 43 Nevolo at No. 1 singles. Courtney made the score 3-0 as he completed a 6-4, 6-2 victory at No. 3 singles over Czerwinski. Barrick clinched the Cavalier victory at No. 6 singles with his 6-4, 6-3 win over Roth. At No. 2 singles, Singh recorded Virginia’s fourth straight-set victory, as he defeated Hamui 6-2, 6-2. Illinois (0-1) got on the board at No. 4 singles where Souza rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 won over Jenkins. Singer completed the match by defeating Hoh 6-3, 7-6 at No. 5 singles. 

No. 52 NC State Falls to No. 55 Vanderbilt, 6-1
The No. 52 NC State men's tennis team fell to No. 55 Vanderbilt, 6-1 on Friday, Jan. 22.

The Commodores earned the first point of the day against the Wolfpack in what was a hard fought battle between the three matches. The duo of Rob Lowe and Frideric Prandecki lost in-a tie breaker to Adam Baker and Alex Zotov, 9-8 (4). Behind the entire match, the tandem of Dominic Hodgson and Dave Thomson won their tie-breaker over Ryan Lipman and Charlie Jones, 9-8 (1). Jaime Pulgar and Fernando Banos fell to Vijay Paul and Bryant Salcedo in the deciding match, 8-6.

Leading off doubles play, Hodgson was beaten 7-6(1), 6-2, by Salcedo at the No. 3 spot. Pulgar took the first set againt Lipman in No. 1 singles, but lost 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. At the No. 2 slot, Lowe was defeated by Paul, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, to clinch the win for Vanderbilt. 

Tech rolls at Hokie Challenge
The Virginia Tech men’s tennis team won five of eight singles matches and three of four doubles contests on the first day of the Hokie Challenge. The Hokies are joined in the event, being played at the Burrow-Burleson Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus, by players from Auburn, College of Charleston, Harvard and Indiana. Admission is free.

The format includes eight singles flights and four doubles flights with round-robin competition in all flights. There will be no team scoring in the event and winners in each flight will be determined by the following method: 1) won-loss record, 2) head to head, 3) total sets won and 4) total games won. Play begins on Saturday at 9 a.m. and Sunday at 8 a.m. with Tech in action Saturday at 2 p.m and Sunday at noon.