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BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The Virginia Tech men’s tennis team will face stiff opposition this weekend in two key home matches against No. 17 North Carolina on Friday at 2:30 p.m., and Sunday in a 1 p.m., contest against No. 10 Duke. The matches will be played at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus. Free Virginia Tech t-shirts will be given away to the first 50 fans in attendance at Friday’s match against the Tar Heels.

Virginia Tech (11-6, 3-2), No. 36 in this week’s ITA national poll, split two matches last week in Florida defeating No. 46 Florida State, 4-3, in a contest which lasted over five hours, then fell 6-1 at No. 29 Miami.

Luka Somen (Jr., Karlovac, Croatia), ranked No. 50 nationally in singles, leads Tech with a 13-3 dual match record at the No. 1 position. Tech’s doubles lineup will include the No. 66 nationally-ranked duo of Will Beck (Sr., Potomac, Md.)/Pedro Graber (r-Sr., Santiago, Chile).

North Carolina (9-4, 4-0) won its sixth consecutive match last Sunday with a 7-0 win over Boston College. The Tar Heels are led by Jose Hernandez, ranked No. 38 in singles. UNC also has three nationally ranked doubles teams including No. 21 Brennan Boyajian/Hernandez, No. 59 Joey Burkhardt/Stefan Hardy and No. 85 Hardy/Zach Hunter. UNC leads the series in ACC contests, 7-0, with four of the matches, including the last two meetings, being decided by a single point.

Duke (13-6, 4-0) defeated Boston College (7-0) and Maryland (6-1) last week at home to extend its winning streak to four. The Blue Devils are led by two top-10 singles players in No. 6 Henrique Cunha and No. 8 Reid Carleton in addition to No. 123 Chris Mengel. Carleton/Cunha are also ranked No. 6 nationally in doubles. Tech dropped a 6-1 decision last year at Duke but has won two of the last three meetings. The Blue Devils own a 5-2 advantage in ACC contests.

Following this weekend’s action, Tech embarks on the final road trip of the regular season with matches at Wake Forest (Apr. 8) and at NC State (1 p.m.).

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