BLACKSBURG – The 16th-ranked Virginia Tech men’s tennis team is back on the road this weekend to face a pair of ranked ACC foes beginning with No. 12 Wake Forest on Friday, March 20 at 4 p.m. Tech will follow up with a 1 p.m. match at 37th-ranked NC State on Sunday, March 22.
Tech (12-1, 4-0 ACC) leads the conference after getting off to its best start since joining the league 10 seasons ago. Most recently, the Hokies defeated No. 62 Clemson 6-1 at Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center. Virginia Tech got off to a strong start, claiming the doubles point early to get out to the 1-0 lead heading into singles. The Hokies continued their strong play, winning five of the six singles matches to secure the win.
Leading the Hokies is a trio of ranked juniors with Andreas Bjerrehus coming in at 40th. Amerigo Contini is 55th while Joao Monteiro ranks 98th. In addition, Bjerrehus and Contini are 64th in the doubles standings which came out on March 10.
Bjerrehus has tallied an 11-1 mark this season, including a win over the 8th-ranked player in the ITA. Contini is 9-1 and Monteiro is 7-1 in duals. Senior Hunter Koontz has posted an 11-0 mark this spring while newcomer Edoardo Tessaro is 10-1. Florian Nicoud has an 8-2 tally and Jai Corbett comes in with a 6-0 mark.
Wake Forest (12-4, 2-1 ACC) is coming off a 7-0 win over then-ranked No. 28 Louisville last weekend. The Deacons‘ 63rd-ranked Noah Rubin had a notable win in the No. 1, coming back after being sidelined by injury, he downed the top-ranked player in the nation, Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, 6-1, 7-6(1).
In addition to Rubin, the Deacons’ Romain Bogaerts is ranked 12th and has a 10-3 record on the season. Jonathan Ho comes in at 69th with an 11-4 record in duals. Wake’s Christian Seraphim and Skandar Mansouri are 13th.
The Hokies picked up the 4-3 win last season with Contini, Monteiro, Jai Corbett and Aaron Gomez winning their respective singles matches to clinch the victory.
North Carolina State (10-6, 0-3 ACC) fell to Louisville 4-3 last weekend, but will make the short trip to Durham on Friday to face No. 6 Duke before returning to play the Hokies on Sunday. Robbie Mudge, Beck Bond and Ian Dempster picked up points for the Pack against the Cardinals.
Austin Powell is ranked for the Pack at No. 72. NC State also has a ranked duo at 17th with Ian Dempster and Mudge.
Powell is 8-6 in duals while Mudge has an 11-4 mark. Simon Norenius is 12-3, Bond 8s 8-5 and Nick Horton has posted an 8-7 record.
Last season the Wolfpack recorded a 4-3 win over the Hokies. Tech scored the doubles point while Contini and Monteiro won in singles to secure points.
Following the weekend, the Hokies will be back at home to take on currently No. 10 North Carolina on Sunday, March 29.
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