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BLACKSBURG, Va. – Virginia Tech had a very successful first day at the USTA/ITA Atlantic Regional tournament. The event, hosted by the University of Virginia, features some of the top players in the nation and will be held, Oct. 20-24, at the Snyder Tennis Center. Due to rain, the first round singles matches were played indoors at Boar’s Head Complex and only one of the scheduled two rounds of doubles was played outdoors in the evening.

The tournament features a 128-player singles draw and the 64-team doubles draw. The Atlantic Region is comprised of schools from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Two rounds of singles will be played on Thursday and one round of doubles.

The Atlantic Regional is one of 12 regional events nationally as players battle for a spot at the ITA National Indoor Championships, The singles and doubles champions from the NCAA Division I USTA/ITA Regional Championships will advance to the 2010 USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, taking place November 4-7, at the new indoor facilities at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, located in Flushing, N.Y. Columbia University will serve as the tournament host.

In first round singles action, Jonathan Pine (Jr., Vienna, Va.) defeated Mandeep Yadev (Liberty), 6-3, 6-2, and Trpimir Kujundzic (So., Zagreb, Croatia) cruised past Reese Milner (Virginia), 6-4, 6-0, while Zach Pine (Jr., Vienna, Va.) easily disposed of Daniel Mihalov (William & Mary), 6-2, 6-0. Elsewhere, Will Beck (Sr., Potomac, Md.) won, 6-3, 7-5, over Taylor Cohen (Penn State), Leonardo Lapentti (Guayaquil, Ecuador) battled his way past Christian Romanzini (Norfolk State), 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, and Pedro Graber, a 17-32 seed, had no trouble with Jorge Osuna (George Mason) winning, 6-2, 6-3.

Tech’s lone two defeats occurred as Lucas Oliveira (So.., Sao Paulo, Brazil) dropped a heartbreaking, 7-6 (5), 0-6, 7-6 (2) decision to Tim Walsh (Georgetown) and Adam Lawton (Fr., Las Vegas, Nev.) was defeated by Filip Rams (Temple), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Both Oliveria and Lawton will see action in the consolation round.

Three other Hokies are seeded in the tournament and received first round byes. Luka Somen (Jr., Karlovac, Croatia), the third seed, Corrado Degl Incerti Tocci (Jr., Reggio Emilia, Italy), seeded No. 7 and Patrick Daciek (Jr., Severna Park, Md.), seeded 17-32, will all see their first action on Thursday.

In Wednesday doubles, Kujundzic/Oliveira defeated Austin/Romanzini (Norfolk State), 8-2, and Beck/Z. Pine won, 8-5, over Andersson/Mihalov (William & Mary). Somen/Tocci, seeded No. 7, received a first round bye along with Daciek/Graber, seeded 9-12. Both will see action in Thursday’s second round.

The event continues through Sunday with results available at http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17800&ATCLID=205015144

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