April 30, 2004

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Virginia Tech had no trouble Friday morning in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Conference Championships blanking St. John's 4-0. Tech advances to the finals of the tournament for the first time and will play the winner of the Friday afternoon match between No. 49 Miami and No. 36 Notre Dame. The event is being played at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on the University of Miami campus.

Tech (15-10), ranked No. 48 in this week's ITA national poll, easily won both of the completed doubles matches for the first point of the day, then dominated the singles competition with straight-set wins at the lower portion of the lineup. Stephane Rod (Jr., Lausanne, Switzerland) cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 4 over Nick Stocker, Angel Diankov (Jr., Yonkers, N.Y.) defeated Morgan Bauer 6-0, 6-2 at No. 5 and Adel Abbas (Jr., Cairo, Egypt) won 6-1, 6-3 in his No. 6 match against Claudio Halim.

Andreas Laulund (Sr., Odense, Denmark), ranked No. 41 nationally, along with Soren Spanner (So., Strandby, Denmark) and Arvid Puranen (Fr., Lulea, Sweden) had their matches at Nos. 1-3 respectively, halted once the dual match winner had been determined.

In doubles, Abbas/Laulund won 8-3 at No.2 over Halim/Nylen and Diankov/Brent Wilkins (So., Richmond, Va.) coasted to an 8-2 victory at No. 3 against Bauer/Goldberg. Rod/Spanner had their No. 1 match halted once the doubles point had been decided.

Tech defeated Notre Dame 4-3 during the regular season and did not face Miami.

No. 48 Virginia Tech 4, St. John's 0

Singles
1. #41 Andreas Laulund (VT) vs. Louis Desmarteaux (SJU) 6-2, 5-2, DNF
2. Soren Spanner (VT) vs. David Nylen (SJU) 6-6, DNF
3. Arvid Puranen (VT) vs. Aurelio DiZazzo (SJU) 7-6 (7), 1-0 DNF
4. Stephane Rod (VT) def. Nick Stocker (SJU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Angel Diankov (VT) def. Morgan Bauer (SJU) 6-0, 6-2
6. Adel Abbas (VT) def. Claudio Halim (SJU) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles
1. Rod/Spanner (VT) vs. Desmarteaux/DiZazzo (SJU) 7-4 DNF
2. Abbas/Laulund (VT) def. Halim/Nylen (SJU) 8-3
3. Diankov/Brent Wilkins (VT) def. Bauer/Todd Goldberg (SJU) 8-2