September 29, 2002

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The Virginia Tech men's tennis program had one of its most successful seasons ever last year and a new member of the team, following an impressive debut, may have the Hokies setting their sights even higher this year.

Angel Diankov (So., Yonkers, N.Y.), a transfer from Oklahoma State, dominated the field losing only nine games in four matches to win his bracket at the Southeastern Collegiate Invitational. Diankov followed up his two wins on Saturday with a semifinal 6-1, 6-1 win over West Virginia's Chris Green in the West Flight. He cruised to the championship with a 6-3, 6-0 victory in the final against Bill Shuster of Appalachian State. Also in the West Flight, Adel Abbas (So., Cairo, Egypt) won his first match of the day 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (4) but lost in the fifth-place match 4-6, 7-6, 10-5 to UNC Greensboro's Julio Moran.

In the North Flight, Andreas Laulund (Jr., Odense, Demark) knocked off David Bere of Wake Forest 7-6, 6-3 to win the fifth-place match. Bere had earlier eliminated Tech's Saber Kadiri (Sr., Algiers, Algeria) 6-2, 6-2. Francis Huot (Sr., Quebec City, Canada) had to withdraw from Sunday's play after retiring from his second Saturday match due to muscle cramps.

Michael Kurz (Sr., Stuttgart, Germany) captured fifth-place in the East Flight with a 6-2, 1-0 ret. victory against Arturo Aquirre of Charlotte. Grant Reynolds (Sr., Midlothian, Va.) dropped a 7-5, 6-4 decision in the South Flight semifinals to Johnathan Clark of Charlotte while freshman Brent Wilkins captured seventh-place in the flight with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Appalachian State's Andrew Taylor.

The Hokies will leave late Wednesday to compete in the ECAC Championships in Flushing, N.Y. The 16-team event will be played at the National Tennis Center which is the site of the U.S. Open. The winner of the event will represent Region 1 at the national championship later this year.