TAMPA, Fla. - The Virginia Tech men's tennis team saw mixed results on the first day of the USF Spring Classic. The event features players from Auburn, Central Florida, Virginia Tech and South Florida and is being played at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts on the University of South Florida campus.

In Flight A singles, Albert Larregola (Sr., Lleida, Spain), ranked No. 42 nationally, defeated Alexey Tsyrenov (Auburn), 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, while Nicolas Delgado de Robles (Jr., Madrid, Spain), ranked No. 86, easily disposed of Lukas Marsoun (Auburn), 6-1, 6-2. Yoann Re (So., Verdun, Quebec, Canada) defeated Pawel Dilaj (Auburn), 6-1, 6-3, in Flight B, however Brandon Corace (Jr., Naples, Fla.) lost 6-4, 6-2, against Puetz (Auburn).

The remaining four Hokies who made the trip south participated in Flight C. Eduardo Pinto (So., San Jose, Costa Rica) picked up Tech's lone win in the flight with a 7-5, 6-3, win against Nick Maurillo (Auburn). In other Flight C results, Sebastien Jacques (Fr., Magog, Quebec, Canada) lost a tough 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, contest versus Terence Nugent (Auburn), Ignaci Roca (Sr., San Jose, Costa Rica) fell 6-1, 6-7, 6-2, to Alex Petropoulos (Auburn) and Preston Lemon (So., Roanoke, Va.) lost 6-0, 6-1, to Milan Knjetin (Auburn).

Delgado de Robles/Re picked up a 9-8 win in Flight A doubles over Marsoun/Puetz (Auburn) while Corace/Larregola fell, 8-6 to Nugent/Tsyrenov (Auburn). In Flight B, Lemon/Pinto dropped a tight 8-6 match to Maurillo/Petropoulos (Auburn) and Jacques/Roca lost, 8-3, versus Dilaj/Krnjetin (Auburn).

Action will continue in the three-day event on Saturday and conclude on Sunday. The USF Spring Classic is the final individual tournament for Tech before the Hokies open 2008 dual match schedule on Jan. 25-27 hosting the Larsen Bowker Shootout.

-vt-