April 15, 2010
Hokies face key final weekend at Clemson, Georgia Tech
Tech in battle for ACC tourney bye

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The Virginia Tech men’s tennis team will conclude the 2010 regular season this weekend with two important matches at No. 44 Clemson on Friday at 5 p.m., and at No. 26 Georgia Tech in a Sunday contest at noon. Two wins for the Hokies this weekend would guarantee the team a first-round bye in next week’s ACC Championship in Cary, N.C.

Virginia Tech (13-5, 6-3), ranked No. 21 in this week’s Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, concluded the home portion of the schedule last weekend with impressive victories over No. 18 Wake Forest (5-2) and No. 47 NC State (4-3). The Hokies are currently in a four-way tie for third in the ACC with North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Florida State, with Wake Forest only one win behind. The Demon Deacons will host the league’s two bottom teams, Maryland (1-8) and Boston College (0-9) this weekend.

Tech has defeated Florida State and Wake Forest this season, but lost to North Carolina. The Hokies would need to sweep both of the weekend matches, then have the Tar Heels drop one of their two final matches at either Florida State or Miami in order to finish third in the ACC.

The Hokies are led by No. 60 Yoann Re (Sr., Verdun, Quebec, Canada) and No. 66 Luka Somen (So., Karlovac, Croatia) and have also received strong play this season from Corrado Degl’ Incerti Tocci (Reggio Emilia, Italy). Tocci has teamed with Somen to compile a 9-0 ACC doubles record entering the final weekend.

Clemson (17-7, 3-6), which opened the dual match season with 15 consecutive wins, has dropped seven of its last nine matches, including two road matches last week at North Carolina and Duke. The Hokies defeated the Tigers, 7-0, last year at home.

Georgia Tech (15-5, 6-3), which will host No. 1 Virginia on Saturday, had an eight-match winning streak snapped last week with losses at Duke (3-4) and North Carolina (2-5). The Yellow Jackets are led by No. 8 Guillermo Gomez with a 6-2 ACC record at the top position and No. 90 Kevin King, who is 7-2 in conference matches. The Hokies picked up a 5-2 home win over Georgia Tech last year.

Following this weekend’s action, Tech will head to Cary, N.C., for the 2010 ACC Championship. Action begins with first-round matches on Thursday, April 22, with the top four seeds playing their first contests on Friday, April 23. The event concludes on Sunday, April 25, with both the men’s and women’s championship matches.

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

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