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NORFOLK, Va. – The Virginia Tech men’s tennis team got off to a fast start Thursday winning seven of nine total matches on the first day of the Wilson/ITA Atlantic Regional tournament. The event, hosted by Old Dominion University, features some of the top players in the nation and is being held at the Folkes-Stevens Indoor Tennis Center. The Atlantic Regional is one of 12 regional events nationally as players battle for a spot at the ITA National Indoor Championships, Nov. 5-8, in New Haven, Conn. The two singles finalists and the winning doubles team will advance to the national tournament.

The Atlantic Regional features 14 nationally ranked players including Virginia Tech’s Yoann Re (No. 35), Patrick Daciek (No. 61) and Luka Somen (No. 125). The tournament includes players from Georgetown, George Washington, Howard, James Madison, Longwood, Liberty, Maryland, Maryland-Baltimore County, Morgan State, Navy, Norfolk State, Old Dominion, Penn State, Radford, St. Joseph’s, Temple, Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, Virginia Tech and William & Mary.

Tech players took four of five singles matches on Thursday with Zach Pine (So., Vienna, Va.) defeating Anthony Tan (Georgetown), 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, to advance to an 11 a.m. match on Friday versus No. 21 seed Ryan Gormley (Penn State). Jon Pine (So., Vienna, Va.) cruised to an easy, 6-1, 6-2, win over Ville Maaranen (James Madison) and will play another No. 21 seed, Ugor Ataley (George Washington) at noon. Elsewhere, Corrado Degli Incerti Tocci (So., Reggio Emilia, Italy) dominated Greg Vladimirsky (Old Dominion), 6-2, 6-0, and will face 21st-seed Chris Kushma (George Washington) at 8 a.m. Will Beck (Jr., Potomac, Md.) came from behind to defeat Marc Ferrigno (Longwood), 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, and takes on No. 12 seed and 103rd ranked Ivan Salec (Radford) at 1 p.m. The Hokies lone singles loss of day was suffered by Trpimir Kujundzic (Fr., Zagreb, Croatia) in a 6-0, 6-2, defeat to Yakov Diskin (Old Dominion).

Four other Hokies are seeded in the tournament and received first round byes. Yoann Re (Sr., Verdun, Quebec, Canada), the third seed, will play Kris Muzalewski (Old Dominion), Friday at 9 am. Patrick Daciek (So., Severna Park, Md.), seeded seventh, plays Friday at 8 a.m. against Charlie Caris. Luka Somen (So., Karlovac, Croatia), seeded No. 14, will face Marcus Rebersak (Navy) Friday at 10:30 a.m. and Sebastien Jacques (Jr., Magog, Quebec, Canada), seeded No. 15, will play Igor Ogrizek (Radford) Friday at 10 a.m.

In doubles, Somen/Tocci are the No. 8 seeds and received a first round bye then won their first match, 8-5, against Dino Dell’orto/Santiago Villeges (Virginia). The pair will face the No. 9 seeds, Matt King/Mike Smith (James Madison), Friday at 6 p.m. Beck/Daciek, seeded No. 9, also received a bye then beat Logan Bricker/Mwalimu Phiri (UMBC), 8-5. They will play No. 3 seeds Drew Courtney/Lee Singer (Virginia) at 6 p.m. Jacques/Re, seeded fifth, received a bye and defeated Mikey Clarke/Brian Miller (Georgetown), 8-4, to advance to a 6 pm. Friday match versus No. 9 seeds Ryan Gormley/Warren Hardie (Penn State). The lone doubles loss occurred as Kujundzic (Fr., Zagreb, Coatia)/Jon Pine lost, 8-5, against Yakov Diskin/Kris Muzalewski (Old Dominion).

Friday’s schedule includes two rounds of singles and one round of doubles. The event continues through Monday with results available at www.odusports.com

For updates on Virginia Tech men's tennis, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_MTennis).