BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech men's tennis team is set to host a pair of ranked foes this weekend beginning with top-ranked Wake Forest on Friday, March 16 at 2 p.m. followed by No. 16 NC State on Sunday also at 2 p.m. at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center.
MATCH INFORMATION
Date/Time: March 16, 2018 / 2 p.m.
Opponent: #1 Wake Forest
Site: Blacksburg, Va. (Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center)
Live Scoring/Video: HokieSports.com
Date/Time: March 18, 2018 / 2 p.m.
Opponent: #16 North Carolina State
Site: Blacksburg, Va. (Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center)
Live Scoring/Video: HokieSports.com
THE HOKIES (9-3, 0-2 ACC)
Virginia Tech is coming off a break after opening ACC play at North Carolina and Duke the first weekend of March. The Hokies fell to the 10th-ranked Blue Devils 5-2, but claimed the doubles point and a singles win from Alex Ribeiro at three. The Tech sophomore had also picked up a win on the weekend against the fifth-ranked Tar Heels.
Senior Mitch Harper enters the weekend ranked 45th in the ITA standings with a 5-3 tally at the one this spring. Ribeiro is undefeated in dual play with an 11-0 mark while freshman Carlo Donato is adding an 8-2 record. Junior Jason Kros is 7-3, including a 5-3 record at the two.
THE DEMON DEACONS (9-0, 0-0 ACC)
Wake Forest is opening its ACC slate in Blacksburg after claiming the ITA Indoor national championship on Feb. 19 where the Deacs defeated third-ranked UCLA 4-2 in the title match. Wake gave up the doubles point, but secured the points needed in singles off wins from Petros Chrysochos, Skander Mansouri, Bar Botzer and Julian Zlobinsky.
Botzer is 8-1 on the season while Chrysochos is 7-1. Mansouri has posted a 5-1 tally and Zlobinksy is 5-0. The Deacs have six players ranked in the latest ITA singles standings: Chrysochos, 8th; Gojo, 18th; Mansouri, 34th; Yuval Solomon, 98th; Christian Seraphim, 102nd; and Botzer, 121st. Wake is also ranked in doubles with Chrysochos/Mansouri at fifth and Zlobinsky/Seraphim at 29th.
THE WOLFPACK (10-2, 0-1 ACC)
NC State fell to fifth-ranked North Carolina 5-0 the last time out after picking up a 4-3 road win over 28th-ranked Tennessee a few days earlier. Against the Vols, the Wolfpack gave up the doubles point, but took the necessary points in singles to pick up the team win as Igor Saveljic, Tadas Babelis, Georgiy Malyshev, and Robert Turzak.
State's Alexis Galarneau is ranked 22nd in the ITA singles standings and is joined in the rankings by a pair of doubles teams. He is joined by teammate Michael Ogden at 38th along with Igor and Ivan Saveljic at 45th. Malyshev has a 9-2 record with Babelis adding a 9-3 tally this spring. Turzak is 8-2.
UP NEXT: The Hokies will hit the road, traveling to Boston College on March 23 followed by a March 25 match at Notre Dame.