BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech men's tennis team concluded its unique 2021 spring season with solid showings in the national rankings and plenty of promise moving forward.
Despite the success of having three singles players, two doubles pairs, and the team ranked in the final ITA poll, the No. 32-ranked Hokies feel as if their squad was within reach of success on an even greater scale.
Tech qualified for its twelfth NCAA tournament in fourteen years when it drew a first-round matchup with Texas Tech. The Hokies narrowly fell to the No. 25-ranked Red Raiders at the Athens, Georgia regional, 4-2.
Virginia Tech made it to the quarterfinals of the ACC Championships in Rome, Georgia, before falling to No. 4-ranked and ACC runner-up North Carolina. This 4-2 loss was one of three matchups that Tech had with the Tar Heels throughout the season with the season-opener in Chapel Hill, North Carolina also coming down to the wire.
The Hokies started that first match of the season with a bang, as transfer student Jordan Chrysostom teamed up with graduate student Alex Ribeiro to beat then-No. 6 duo and eventual All-Americans William Blumberg and Brian Cernoch.
Chrysostom and Ribeiro would eventually separate due to injury, but finished the year ranked No. 73.
It was freshman Ryan Fishback and Chrysostom that made the most noise for the Hokies by the end of the year, as the duo qualified for the NCAA Doubles Championship. Despite falling in the first round to the Auburn pair of Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett, the Tech tandem left a solid foundation to build on as they wrapped up the year ranked No. 31.
Three Hokies landed in the final ITA singles rankings: No. 108 Alex Ribeiro, No. 114 Mitch Harper, and No. 115 Matthis Ross.
Ribeiro and Harper concluded their time at Virginia Tech this season, while Ross finished his sophomore campaign with two top-50 wins in ACC play.
Fishback and fellow freshman Hugo Maia both had 13 wins on the season, along with a solid showing from Alvaro Saez-Royuela Ariza with nine wins, setting up Tech with plenty of young potential moving forward.