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BLACKSBURG - The 14th-ranked Virginia Tech men’s tennis team is set to open play in the 2016 ITA Kickoff Weekend hosted by Columbia University Jan. 23-24 beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday against the Stanford Cardinal in New York City.

The Hokies (1-0) opened up the season with a 5-2 road victory in Tuscaloosa, Alabama against the #65 ranked Crimson Tide. Seniors Joao Monteiro (No. 14), Amerigo Contini, Andreas Bjerrehus and Aaron Gomez all claimed wins in singles to help secure the win over Alabama.

The Cardinal (0-0) come into the weekend ranked 18th in the ITA. In the fall David Wilczynski claimed the USTA/ITA Regional title while Nolan Paige and Maciek Romanowicz advanced to the finals of the doubles. At the national indoor championships, Tom Fawcett advanced in singles to the quarterfinals before falling.

In addition to the Hokies and the Cardinal matching up on Saturday, the host school Columbia will play Minnesota in the four-team section of the tournament.

Columbia (0-0) enters the weekend ranked 16th in the nation. The Lions have won the Ivy League championship the past two years and have also been to two straight Sweet 16s. The Lions lost three key seniors in Winston Lin, Ashok Narayana and Max Schnur, who were all on the All-Ivy League team in 2015. Michal Rolski and Mike Vermeer return for a team coming off making the consolation final in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship. Rolski and Vermeer are ranked 26th in doubles.

Minnesota (2-0) enters ranked 23rd fresh off a pair of 7-0 sweeps, defeating both DePaul and South Dakota State. Felix Corwin and Ruben Weber crack the ITA singles rankings at 101 and 95 respectively. Corwin also competes with Matic Spec on the 20th ranked doubles team in the country. Spec comes in with a four game win streak in singles and a 5-2 record overall and Corwin comes in at 7-2 on the season in singles.

The Hokies duo of Monteiro and Bjerrehus come in just behind Minnesota’s Corwin and Spec at 21st in the ITA rankings.

Virginia Tech looks to remain undefeated in a tough draw in New York before returning back to Blacksburg for a three-match home stand.

The winner of the Stanford versus Virginia Tech match will play the winner of the matchup of Columbia and Minnesota and the losers will also play each other the following day on Sunday, Jan. 24th, times are TBA.

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