May 4, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Subcommittee has selected Virginia Tech's Arvid Puranen as one of the 64 singles players that will compete in the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships hosted by Stanford University. Puranen received an at-large selection to the national tournament.

The singles and doubles competition will be conducted May 24-29 at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif., following the conclusion of the team championship (May 20-23). Pairings for the individual tournament will be released on May 23.

"We are excited that Arvid has been selected to participate in this year's NCAA Championship and represent Virginia Tech at the national championships," said Virginia Tech head men's tennis coach Jim Thompson. "He has worked extremely hard and has earned the opportunity to compete against the best players in the country. Arvid is following in the footsteps of fellow teammate Andreas Laulund who also qualified in his junior year. I could not be more proud of him and hopefully he performance this year will establish him among the nation's elite collegiate players."

Puranen (Jr., Lulea, Sweden), is ranked No. 50 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll. He posted a 20-14 dual match singles record this season including a 7-4 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference playing at the No. 1 position. Puranen picked up ACC victories during the regular season over current No. 18 Todd Paul (Wake Forest), No. 30 Clement Reix (Clemson), No. 36 Ytai Abougzir (Florida State) and No. 78 Nick Cavaday (NC State).

In order for Puranen to become an All-American, he must win two matches to finish as one of the final 16 competitors at the championships.

For complete coverage of the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship including tickets, schedule/results, live scoring and photos, visit http://gostanford.cstv.com/genrel/06-ncaa-tennis-champs.html.