September 8, 2006

ATHENS, Ga. --The Virginia Tech men's tennis team had a very successful day at the 38^th Annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships. The event is being played at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the University of Georgia campus.

In Division I singles, Arvid Puranen (Sr., Lulea, Sweden), ranked No. 34 nationally and seeded eighth in the event, rolled to an easy 6-2, 6-3, win over Dias Doskarajev (South Alabama). Puranen advances to a round of 32 match against Renan Salviera (Samford) Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Albert Larregola (Jr., Lleida, Spain), ranked No. 91 nationally, was upset in his first round Division I match, 6-3, 6-1, against Marek Sramek (South Alabama). Larregola will play in the consolation round on Saturday.

Tech won two of three Division II matches as Brandon Corace (So., Naples, Fla.) dropped the first set of his match and was down a break in each of the last two sets, before winning a tough 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, match over Scott Blockman (Georgia Tech). Corace avenged a loss to Blockman in the tournament last year and will face Aaron Carpenter (Duke) Saturday at 8 a.m. Nicolas Delgado (So., Madrid, Spain) defeated Adam Storti (Morehead State) 6-4, 6-0, and will face Alejandro Portugal (Winthrop) Saturday at 8 a.m. Alexei Sergeev (Sr., Moscow, Russia) lost 6-2, 6-2, versus Mauricio Engler (Ball State) and will see his next action in the Saturday consolation round.

The Hokies advanced three players in Division III as Akil Burgess (Sr., St. Michael, Barbados) picked up a 6-3, 6-2, victory over Will Taylor (Tennessee-Martin) to advance to a Saturday, 8:30 a.m. contest against John Thornton (Tennessee). Ignaci Roca (Jr., San Jose, Costa Rica) won 6-4, 6-3, over Pablo Camacho (Louisville) and will see his next action Saturday at 10 a.m. against Arthur Takahashi (Winthrop). Eduardo Pinto (Fr., San Jose, Costa Rica) received a first round bye and will see his first action Saturday at 8:30 a.m. versus Stuart Misner (Samford).

Only one Tech doubles team saw action Saturday as Corace/Puranen, ranked No. 57 nationally, won 4-3, ret. in Division I against Svigelt Toledo (South Florida). They will play the second-seeded team of Isner/Flores (Georgia) Saturday afternoon. The Bulldog duo are ranked ninth in the nation. In Division II, the Tech teams of Burgess/Sergeev, Delgado/Larregola and Pinto/Roca, all received first round byes and will see their first action Saturday afternoon.