February 2, 2003

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The 38th-ranked Virginia Tech men's tennis team struggled before taking a hard-fought 4-3 win over Arkansas-Little Rock Sunday afternoon at the Burrows/Burleson Tennis Center. The Trojans are coached by former Tech men's assistant Tommy McDonald.

Tech (6-1) won two of three matches to capture the doubles point then split the six singles matches for the victory. In singles action, Francis Huot (Sr., Quebec City, Canada), ranked No. 94 nationally, routed Juan Carlos Baca in the No. 1 match 6-0, 6-1 and Saber Kadiri (Sr., Algiers, Algeria), ranked No. 51, won his No. 3 match 6-0, 6-2 over Jarrad Bunt. Andreas Laulund (Jr., Odense, Denmark), No. 88 in the nation, won the clinching point with a 6-4, 6-2 victory at No. 2 against Alexei Poutchinets.

After taking a commanding 4-0 lead in the match, Tech lost the remaining three singles events after winning the first set in each match. No. 78 Stephane Rod (So., Lausanne, Switzerland) lost his No. 4 match to Sebastian Faulk 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (2) and Michael Kurz (So., Fairfax, Va.) lost a tough No. 5 match 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 against Mithun Murali. Grant Reynolds (Sr., Midlothian, Va.) fell at No. 6 to David Baxendine 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.

In doubles play, 44th-ranked Laulund/Rod won at No. 1 over Mark Edney/Poutchinets 8-5 while Huot/Kurz defeated Baxendine/Murali 8-4 at No. 3. David Emery/Kadiri lost at 8-3 at No. 2 against Bunt/Faulk.

"Today's match was a good win against a strong Arkansas-Little Rock team coached by Tommy McDonald," said Virginia Tech head coach Jim Thompson. "I felt we did a very good job at our top three positions to clinch the match 4-0, but then we let them back into the match by losing the final three matches in three sets. This will be a great learning opportunity for our guys and we will practice hard this week to be ready for the trip to Penn State."

Tech returns to action Sunday (Feb. 9) when the Hokies travel to Penn State for an 11 a.m. match. The Hokies next home is on Fri., Feb. 14 versus Yale at 2 p.m.

No. 38 Virginia Tech 4, Arkansas-Little Rock 3

SINGLES
No. 1 #94 Francis Huot (VT) def. Juan Carlos Baca (UALR) 6-0, 6-1
No. 2 #88 Andreas Laulund (VT) def. Alexei Poutchinets (UALR) 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 #51 Saber Kadiri (VT) def. Jarrad Bunt (UALR) 6-0, 6-2
No. 4 Sebastian Faulk (UALR) def. #78 Stephane Rod (VT) 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (2)
No. 5 Mithun Murali (UALR) def. Michael Kurz (VT) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 David Baxendine (UALR) def. Grant Reynolds (VT) 2-6, 7-5, 6-1

DOUBLES
No. 1 #44 Laulund/Rod (VT) def. Mark Edney/Poutchinets (UALR) 8-5
No. 2 Baca/Faulk (UALR) def. David Emery/Kadiri (UALR) 8-2
No. 3 Huot/Kurz (VT) def. Baxendine/Murali (UALR) 8-4