March 30, 2007

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The Virginia Tech men's tennis team got back on the winning track Friday afternoon with a solid 6-1 victory over No. 46 Georgia Tech at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus. The Hokies improved to 11-6 on the year and 2-4 in the ACC while the Yellow Jackets fell to 5-11 and 2-4 in conference play.

The Hokies, ranked No. 39 nationally, swept all three doubles matches to capture the first point of the afternoon then won five of the six singles contest in the win.

In singles, Arvid Puranen (Sr., Lulea, Sweden), ranked 49^th nationally, eased past Jose Muguruza, 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (7) in the No. 1 match while Albert Larregola (Jr., Lleida, Spain) won his No. 2 contest, 7-6 (1), 6-4, over Eric Molnar. In other singles results, Nicolas Delgado (So., Madrid, Spain) had no trouble at No. 3 with a 6-0, 6-2, win against Jordan Delass, Yoann Re (Fr., Verdun, Quebec) won 7-5, 6-1, at No. 4 over Scott Blackmon and Pedro Graber (Fr., Santiago, Chile) picked up a win at No. 6 versus George Gvelesiani, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0. Tech suffered its' only loss of the day in the No. 5 match as Brandon Corace (So., Naples, Fla.) dropped a 7-6, 3-6, 1-0 (7) decision to Zach Rath.

In doubles, Delgado/Graber won 8-3 in their No. 1 match against Gvelesiani/Molnar, Larregola/Alexei Sergeev (Sr., Moscow, Russia) defeated Delass/Muguruza, 6-5 (3) at No. 2 and Corace/Puranen completed the sweep with a 8-3 win at No. 3 over Blackmon/Luke Rassow-Kantor.

Tech returns to action at home against No. 26 Clemson this Sun., Apr. 1 at 1 p.m. All home matches are played at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus.

No. 39 Virginia Tech 6, No. 46 Georgia Tech 1
Singles
1. #49 Arvid Puranen (VT) def. Jose Muguruza (GT) 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (7)
2. Albert Larregola (VT) def. Eric Molnar (GT) 7-6 (1), 6-4
3. Nicolas Delgado (VT) def. Jordan Delass (GT) 6-0, 6-2
4. Yoann Re (VT) def. Scott Blackmon (GT) 7-5, 6-1
5. Zach Rath (GT) def. Brandon Corace (VT) 7-6, 3-6, 1-0 (7)
6. Pedro Graber (VT) def. George Gvelesiani (GT) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
Order of finish: 3, 4, 2*, 6, 5, 1

Doubles
1. Delgado/Graber (VT) def. Gvelesiani/Molnar (GT) 8-3
2. Larregola/Alexei Sergeev (VT) def. Delass/Muguruza (GT) 6-5 (3)
3. Corace/Puranen (VT) def. Blackmon/Luke Rassow-Kantor (GT) 8-3
Order of finish: 1,3*,2