Feb. 14, 2009

Virginia Blanks Tulsa 4-0 in National Team Indoor Opener
The No. 5 Virginia men’s tennis team began the defense of its ITA National Team Indoor title with a 4-0 win over No. 12 Tulsa in first round action Friday night at the Midtown Tennis Club. The Cavaliers improve to 9-0 on the season and reach the National Indoor quarterfinals for the fourth time in the past five years.

Virginia opened the match by taking the doubles point. Tulsa took an early advantage as fourth-ranked Arnau Brugues and Phillip Stephens topped third-ranked Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) and Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) at No. 1 doubles. The Cavaliers answered with an 8-6 win at No. 2 doubles as No. 27 Dominic Inglot (London, England) and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) downed Alberto Sottocorno and Ashley Watling. The Cavaliers clinched the opening point when Drew Courtney (Clifton, Va.) and Lee Singer (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) completed an 8-4 win over Ross Cunningham and Victor Kolik at the No. 3 position.

In singles, the Cavaliers opened play strong, winning all six first sets. Courtney made the score 2-0 with his 6-3, 6-1 win over Cunningham at No. 6 singles. Steven Eelkman Rooda (Amersfoort, The Netherlands) added a 6-1, 6-3 win over Watling at No.5 singles to make the score 3-0. Shabaz completed the 4-0 victory with his 6-3, 6-2 win over Stephens at No. 3 singles. Virginia led in each of the three matches that were suspended.

Tech cruises past College of Charleston, 7-0 
Virginia Tech had no trouble in its’ home-opener Friday afternoon defeating College of Charleston, 7-0, at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus. The Hokies have little time to enjoy the victory as they host St. Bonaventure at 7 p.m.

Tech (3-1), ranked No. 32 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, swept three matches to win the doubles point then won swept the six singles contests for the victory.

In singles, Yoann Re (Jr., Verdon, Quebec, Canada) defeated Lukas Koncila, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 1 and Pedro Graber (Jr., Santiago, Chile), ranked No. 101 nationally, won, 7-6, 6-3, in his No. 2 match against Mickael Boyer. Luka Somen (Fr., Karlovac, Croatia) won, 6-7, 7-5, 1-0 () at No. 3 versus Tom Delme. Elsewhere, Sebastien Jacques (So., Magog, Quebec, Canada) picked up a 6-3, 6-2, win at No. 4 over Mickael Tritignac and in the No. 5 event, Brandon Corace (Sr., Naples, Fla.) had no trouble with a 6-0, 6-1, win over Joe Nicolazzi. Patrick Dacik (Fr., Severna Park, Md.) defeated Steven Myers, 6-2, 7-6, in the No. 6 match to complete the sweep.

Hokies complete sweep with 6-1 win
Virginia Tech completed a home-opening sweep Friday evening defeating St. Bonaventure, 6-1, after beating College of Charleston, 7-0, in the afternoon match. Both contests were played at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus.

Tech (4-1), ranked No. 32 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, took two of three matches to win the doubles point then won five of the six singles contests for the victory.

In singles, Yoann Re (Jr., Verdon, Quebec, Canada) defeated Leo Mochizuki, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 1 while Luka Somen (Fr., Karlovac, Croatia) struggled before pulling out a 6-0, 4-6, 1-0 (4) win in his No. 2 match against Chris Post. In other results, Sebastien Jacques (So., Magog, Quebec, Canada) breezed to a 6-1, 6-1, win at No. 3 over Jonathan Luce, Patrick Daciek (Fr., Severna Park, Md.) defeated Victor Lecina, 6-2, 6-2, in the No. 5 match and Corrado Degl.’ Incerti Tocci (Fr., Reggio Emilia, Italy) beat Enric Larregola, 6-3. 6-1, at No. 6. Tech’s suffered its’ lone singles loss of the evening at No. 4 where Brandon Corace (Sr., Naples, Fla.) dropped a tough 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10), decision against Mikhail Sudakov.

Terps Triumph Over No. 59 William & Mary
The No. 73 Maryland men's tennis team defeated No. 59 William & Mary this afternoon, in a close match that everyone in attendance rooting until the end.

The Terps (3-1, 0-1) started the match off with a convincing win of the doubles point before splitting the singles results with the Tribe (9-4, 1-0), on the way to a 4-3 Maryland win.

Maryland's No. 35-ranked doubles team of seniors Andrew Orban and Boris Fetbroyt made quick work of their ranked competition. Facing the No. 52-ranked pair of Keziel Juneau and Sebastien Vidal, the Terps got off to a great start, breaking the opposition's serve in the first game of the match, going on to win 8-2.

No. 16 Florida State Loses 4-1 To Defending National Champion Georgia
The No. 16-ranked Florida State men’s tennis was defeated by No. 3 Georgia 4-1 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago, Ill.

The doubles point came down to a tiebreaker on court number three between the Seminole duo of senior Chris Cloer and junior Vahid Mirzadeh and Javier Garrapiz and Drake Bernstein of Georgia. The Bulldogs (6-0) pulled out the win 9-8(2) to take the doubles point. On court one No. 23-ranked junior Jean-Yves Aubone and sophomore Clint Bowles were beaten quickly by No. 40-ranked Nate Schnugg and Jamie Hunt. On court two the Seminoles fought back to tie doubles with No. 47-ranked senior Drew Bailey and Maciek Sykut won the last three games of the match to defeat Josh Varela and Chrstian Vitulli 8-6.