DURHAM, N.C. – The struggles continue as No. 65 Virginia Tech (7-4, 0-3) falls in third-straight ACC contest against No. 15 Duke (11-6, 3-1), 2-5, Friday evening.
The woes would continue for Virginia Tech, as they were unable to secure the doubles point for the third match in a row. After returning from injury, Michael Shepheard was reunited with Alex Ix, but would fall to Faris Khan and Teddy Truwit, 2-6. Recently ranked as the 80th doubles pairing, Ryan Fishback and Maxime St. Hilaire would climb out from an early 1-4 deficit to tie their match at 4-4 before eventually falling in the clinching match 4-6 to Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas. Also returning from injury, Alberto Orso would rejoin Matt Harper on court two. They would continue their consistency from earlier in the season, knotted up at 5-5 against the No. 21 pairing in the nation, Michael Heller and Andrew Zhang, but the match would be halted after the doubles point was secured.
After starting out 4-4 in his match, Alex Ix would be the first Hokie to finish, surrendering a 4-6, 2-6 loss to Connor Krug. After finishing last Sunday's match with an upset victory, Hugo Maia would not be able to get himself going, suffering a 4-6, 0-6 loss on court three to Andrew Zhang.
Coming in as the underdog in his match despite most recently defeating the No. 25 singles player, No. 60 Ryan Fishback would fall to No. 47 Garrett Johns, clinching the match for the Blue Devils. Maxime St. Hilaire would take his first set against No. 66 Pedro Rodenas 6-4, but would not close out his match, dropping the final two sets 5-7 and 0-1 (7-10).
The first victory for Tech would come from the bottom of the lineup sheet, as Alberto Orso would return from injury and grind out a three-set victory after dropping his first set. Orso came back after a 3-6 loss in set one, taking the next two sets 7-5, 1-0 (10-6), to defeat Faris Khan.
Virginia Tech earned another team point from the bottom half of the lineup, as Benjamin Pomeranets would earn his first ACC win in yet another three-set match. Matched up against fellow freshman, Alexander Visser, Pomeranets would earn his match by scores of 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-7).
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The Hokies finish their first road trip of ACC play against No. 30 North Carolina on Sunday at 1 p.m.
