April 21, 2006

CARY, N.C. -- Freshman Christian Guevara (Parkland, Fla.) earned a singles victory at the No. 6 spot, but it was not enough for Virginia Tech on Friday. The 56^th-ranked Hokies fell to No. 3 Duke, 4-1 in the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic Coast Conference men's tennis Tournament at the Cary Tennis Center.

Tech, the No. 9 seed in the tourney, finishes the conference championships with a 13-15 overall mark. The Hokies will learn if they've been selected to the NCAA Tournament on May 3 at 8:30, when ESPNEWS will air the Division I selection show. Individual NCAA Tournament selections will be made the following day.

On Friday, Guevara downed Duke's Ned Samuelson, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 for Tech's only point of the match.

In other singles action, sixth-ranked Ludovic Walter defeated No. 40 Arvid Puranen (Lulea, Sweden), 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) at the No. 1 spot. At No. 2 singles, 58^th-ranked Jonathan Stokke topped sophomore Alexei Sergeev (Moscow, Russia), 6-2, 6-3, while No. 81 Peter Rodrigues downed sophomore Albert Larregola (Lleida, Spain), 6-2, 6-2.

Freshmen David Rosenfeld's (Coral Gables, Fla.) and Nicolas Delgado's (Madrid, Spain) singles matches were not completed because the Blue Devils had scored the clinching point of the match.

Duke, the tournament's top seed, earned the point in doubles play by taking the first two matches. At No. 2 doubles, Stephen Amritaj and Rodrigues defeated Puranen and Sergeev, 8-5, while Walter and Samuelson downed Delgado and Larregola, 8-5 at No. 3 doubles.

#3 Duke 4, #56 Virginia Tech 1
Singles
1. #6 Ludovic Walter (DU) def. #40 Arvid Puranen (VT), 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
2. #58 Jonathan Stokke (DU) def. Alexei Sergeev (VT), 6-2, 6-3
3. #81 Peter Rodrigues (DU) def. Albert Larregola (VT), 6-2, 6-2
4. Joey Atas (DU) vs. David Rosenfeld (VT), 3-6, 6-4, 4-2*
5. Nicolas Delgado (VT) vs. Kiril Dimitrov (DU), 7-6, 2-3*
6. Christian Guevara (VT) def. Ned Samuelson (DU), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3

Doubles
1. #22 Atas/Stokke (DU) vs. Guevara/Brent Wilkins (VT), 6-5*
2. Stephen Amritaj/Rodrigues (DU) def. Puranen/Sergeev (VT), 8-5
3. Walter/Samuelson (DU) def. Delgado/Larregola (VT), 8-5

*Match not completed because Duke had already scored the clinching point
Order of Finish: Doubles: 3,2, 1*; Singles: 6, 2, 3, 1, 4*, 5*