Hokies hit the road to face Alabama and Penn State

Men's tennis takes-on Bama Friday, PSU Saturday

January 25, 2018

BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech men’s tennis team is on the road, traveling to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to face Alabama in a 7 p.m. ET match on Friday, Jan. 26. Tech will remain in Tuscaloosa for a neutral site match on Saturday, Jan. 27 against Penn State at 2 p.m. ET.

MATCH INFORMATION
Date/Time: January 26, 2018 / 7 p.m.
Opponent: Alabama
Site: Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Indoor Facility)
Live Scoring: RollTide.com

Date/Time: January 27, 2018 / 2 p.m.
Opponent: Penn State
Site: Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Indoor Facility)
Live Scoring: RollTide.com

THE HOKIES (2-0, 0-0 ACC)
Virginia Tech opened the season with a pair of wins, defeating Liberty, 6-1 and N.C. A&T, 7-0 last weekend in a doubleheader. Alex Ribeiro, Carlo Donato, Chase Bernstine and George Cartledge each picked up two wins on the day.

Mitch Harper leads a trio of ranked Hokies into the weekend, coming in at 68th after the fall. Jason Kros is 80th while Ribeiro is 97th.

THE TIDE (6-0)
Alabama is off to the best start by the program since 2008. In its six matches this season, Alabama has only given up two singles points. The Tide defeated Chattanooga, 6-1, in the team’s last outing. Edson Ortiz has a 5-0 singles record while Thibault Cancel, Alexey Nesterov and Grant Stuckey are 4-0 each.

Cancel, along with teammate Mazen Osama earned All-SEC honors last season.

THE NITTANY LIONS (1-0)
Penn State defeated Colgate 7-0 last weekend to open the season. Constant De La Bassetiere, a 2017 All-B1G honoree, leads the Nittany Lions ranked 67th by the ITA at the end of the fall. Last weekend against the Raiders five of the singles matches were claimed in straight sets.

THE SERIES
Tech is 3-0 all-time against the Tide and hold a 16-9 record over PSU. The Hokies defeated Alabama 4-2 last season in a neutral site match in Montgomery, Alabama. Tech and PSU have not played since 2015 when the Hokies won 4-1.

Up Next: The Hokies return home for a doubleheader on Friday, Feb. 2, hosting Eastern Kentucky at 2 p.m. followed by James Madison at 7 p.m.

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