Jan. 24, 2009

Blue Devils Claim 6-1 Victory Over VCU
The No. 32 Duke men's tennis team improved to 2-0 on the season with a 6-1 victory over No. 35 Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

The Blue Devils used a tight finish in doubles to gain momentum and cruise through singles with wins in five of the six matches.

A pair of Duke freshmen came through in the clutch to give the Blue Devils the doubles point. At the No. 3 spot in the order, David Holland and Torsten Wietoska faced match point down 40-30 in the game and 7-6 in the match. The Duke pair fought back to force a tiebreaker at 8-8. Then with the score at 3-3 in the tiebreaker they rattled off four straight points to clinch the doubles point with a 9-8 (3) victory. With the win Holland and Wietoska stay undefeated with a 4-0 record.

Wake Forest Men Top UNC Asheville, Gardner-Webb
The Wake Forest men's tennis team opened dual match season with a 7-0 win over UNC Asheville and a 6-1 win over Gardner-Webb on Saturday at the Indoor Tennis Center. The Deacons improved their record to 2-0 after play wrapped up while UNC Asheville fell to 0-1 and Gardner-Webb fell to 0-3.

Junior Andrew Brasseaux played at the top of the Wake Forest singles lineup in both matches, taking a 6-1, 6-1 victory over UNCA's Mauricio Correa and followed with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 loss to Gardner-Webb's Evgeny Slesarev.

Freshmen David Hopkins and Joost Vogel both got their first career starts at the doubleheader. Hopkins defeated Joseph May at No. 4 in straight sets and followed with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over UNCA's Rafael Artmayer at No. 3. Vogel took straight set wins at Nos 3 and 4.

Clemson Defeats The Citadel Saturday
Clemson opened its season on a positive note, defeating The Citadel 7-0 in a men's intercollegiate tennis match at the Hoke Sloan Tennis Center in Clemson, SC on Saturday afternoon.

This match was also the first contest for new Clemson Head Coach Chuck McCuen. McCuen was named the Tigers' head mentor in July 2008.

The Tigers won all three doubles matches, with the closest match coming in an 8-4 victory by Gera Boryachinskiy and Rok Bizjak over Yufo Sutantio and Alberto Diaz of the Bulldogs.

No. 11 Florida State Men's Tennis Loses Marathon Match To No. 2 Texas
The No. 11 Florida State men's tennis team could not overcome a three hour rain delay or a powerful Texas team in front of a raucous crowd at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center losing 4-2 to the second-ranked team in the country.

The Seminoles (2-2) started the day strong winning four out of six first sets in singles before the rain came. After the three hour delay, the Longhorns regained the momentum earning the first two points of the day. On court three, Kellen Damico of Texas defeated junior Vahid Mirzadeh in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 and on court five senior Chris Cloer lost 6-4, 6-3 to Miguel Reyes Varela.

The Garnet and Gold pulled within 2-1 on court two when 29th-ranked sophomore Clint Bowles beat the Longhorns Ed Corrie in three-sets 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Texas made the score 3-1 on court one where No. 31 Dimitar Kutrovsky upset No. 30 junior Jean-Yves Aubone in three sets.

Tech Tennis Drops Tough 5-2 Decision at South Carolina
The Georgia Tech men's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to South Carolina Saturday in Columbia, S.C. The Jackets fall to 2-1 on the season while the Gamecocks improve to 3-0.

After falling down 2-0 through doubles play and the first singles match, the Jackets fought back with identical 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 wins by sophomore Guillermo Gomez and freshman Kevin King over USC's No. 1 and No. 2 to close the score at 3-2.

Needing wins from sophomores Miguel Muguruza and Ryan Smith at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions to take the match, the Jackets fell short as neither was able to pull out a win. Smith was defeated by the Gamecock's Ivan Cressoni 6-3, 6-4, and Muguruza by Johannes Pulsfort 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.