Hokie ClubALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - The fate of the Virginia Tech men's tennis team was placed in the hands of a freshman Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the ACC Championship. Sebastien Jacques delivered under pressure with a three-set victory in the deciding match to give the Hokies a 4-3 over No. 69 Clemson. The four-day event is being played at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla. Tech, the fifth-seed, improved to 15-7, and will face #4 seed Wake Forest (16-9), ranked No. 28, Friday at noon in the quarterfinals. The Hokies lost a 4-3 decision to the Demon Deacs last Friday in Blacksburg. Clemson ends the year at 15-20.
Tech, ranked No. 27 in this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, lost two tiebreakers to drop the doubles point before taking four of the six singles matches for the win. Clemson, a 4-3 winner over Tech at home earlier this season, took a 2-0 lead as Carlos Alvarez won 6-0, 6-1, at No. 1 over 42nd-ranked Albert Larregola (Sr., Lleida, Spain.). The Hokies recorded their first point of day as Nicolas Delgado de Robles (Jr., Madrid, Spain) picked up a 6-1, 6-1, win in his No. 2 match against Ike Belk.
Clemson took a 3-1 lead when Gere Boryachinskiy defeated Tech's Pedro Graber (So., Santiago, Chile), 6-2, 6-2, at No. 4 before the Hokies began their comeback. Brandon Corace (Jr, Naples, Fla.) took the No. 6 contest, 6-4, 6-4, versus Derek Difazio and Yoann Re (So., Verdun, Quebec, Canada) tied the match with a 6-3, 7-5 victory at No. 3 over Rok Bizjak.
Jacques (Fr., Magog, Quebec, Canada) took the first set, 6-2, in the No. 5 match against Kevin Fleck but dropped the second, 3-6. He gave the Hokies the win and a berth in the quarterfinals by winning the deciding set 6-3.
Tech dropped a very tight doubles competition after winning the first match at No 3 as Jacques/Re defeated Boryachinskiy/Difazio, 8-4. Clemson won the remaining two matches as Belk/Bizjak edged Corace/Graber, 9-8 (6) at No. 1 and Alvarez/Fleck won another 9-8 decision at No. 2 over Delgado de Robles/Larregola.
The contest marked the last match for Clemson Head Coach Chuck Kriese, who is finishing his 33rd year as the head mentor of the Tigers. Kriese is retiring later this summer. He finishes his Clemson career with a 685-419 career record in 33 years at Clemson. That career figure makes him the fifth winningest active Division I Coach in the United States. He is also the all-time winningest coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference for total wins (685) and league victories (166).
#27 Virginia Tech 4, #69 Clemson 3
Singles
1. Carlos Alvarez (CU) def. #42 Albert Larregola (VT)6-0, 6-1
2. Nicolas DeVlgado de Robles (VT) def. Ike Belk (CU) 6-1, 6-1
3. Yoann Re (VT) def. Rok Bizjak (CU) 6-3, 7-5
4. Gere Boryachinskiy (CU) def. Pedro Graber (VT)6-2, 6-2
5. Sebastien Jacques (VT) def. Kevin Fleck (CU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
6. Brandon Corace (VT) def. Derek Difazio (CU) 6-4, 6-4
Finishing Order: 1, 2, 4, 6, 3, 5*
Doubles
1. Belk/Bizjak (CU) def. Corace/Graber (VT) 9-8 (6)
2. Alvarez/Fleck (CU) def. Delgado de Robles/Larregola (VT)9-8
3. Jacques/Re (VT) def. Boryachinskiy/Difazio (CU) 8-4
Finishing Order: 3, 1, 2*