September 9, 2001

KINGSPORT, TENN. -- Saturday proved to be a bad day for four members of the Virginia Tech men's tennis team who were participating in the Citizens Bank Invitational hosted by East Tennessee State University. Andreas Laulund and Grant Semon, who had each won two matches on Friday to advance to Saturday's quarterfinals, lost in straight sets.

Laulund, a sophomore from Odense, Denmark, dropped a 6-2, 7-6 decision to Jerome LeBelicard of Mississippi State. LeBelicard won his semifinal match later in the day and will play in Sunday's championship final. Semon, a senior from Midlothian, Va., lost 6-2, 7-5 to East Tennessee State's Marcos Pavlovich. In the consolation singles draw, Davor Dupljak, a senior from Karlovac, Croatia, defeated Roberto Fernandez of East Tennessee State 6-1, 6-2 before dropping a tough 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 decision to TennesseeTech's Garnot Fisher. The Hokies Saber Kadiri, a junior from Algiers, Algeria, had to default his first round consolation match against Santiago Sabagun of ETSU after winning the first set 6-1 but trailing 5-6 in the second set.

In the doubles quarterfinals, Dupljak and Laulund lost 9-7 to Louisville's Paulo Carvalho and Joachim Lien while Kadiri and Semon defaulted their match to Matt Lucas and Reynaldo Valor of North Carolina State.

Members of the men's tennis team will play in two different tournaments the weekend of Sept. 21-23. Several Hokies will participate in either the Wake Forest Invitational in Winston Salem, N.C. or the Southern Intercollegiates in Athens, Ga.