July 5, 2002

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech men's tennis team capped an outstanding season with a No. 33 ranking in the final Omni Hotels/Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. Tech was tops in the Northeast region while Saber Kadiri was selected as the top player in the region.

The Hokies (17-8) advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 4-2 win over North Carolina in the first round. Tech fell 4-0 to host Tennessee in the second round of the event. The Volunteers advanced to the national semifinals before falling to eventual national champion Southern California.

Tech was selected as the top team in the final Northeast regional rankings while Kadiri (Jr., Algiers, Algeria) was selected as the top player in the region. Kadiri, ranked 68th in the final national singles rankings, participated in the NCAA National Singles Championship and was selected as the Region 1 "Tennis Magazine/Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sportsmanship & Leadership Award" recipient. He was also named the Region 1 nominee for the "National ITA/Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award." and was the Region 1 "ITA Player to Watch" as one of the top returning regional players next year.

Francis Huot (Jr., Quebec City, Canada) was ranked eighth in the region after posting a 21-9 singles record this season. Andreas Laulund (So., Odense, Denmark) finished the year ranked 12th in the region followed by Stephane Rod (Fr., Lausanne, Switzerland) ranked No. 20 and Davor Dupljak (Sr., Karlovac, Croatia) with a No. 26 regional ranking.

Laulund and Rod were No. 58 in the final national doubles rankings and fourth in the Northeast region. The Tech duo posted a 17-3 record in dual matches this season. Huot and Kadiri finished fifth in the region.