BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech men's tennis team will return to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year on Sat., May 10, when the No. 30 Hokies travel to Knoxville, Tenn. to play No. 37 Kentucky (12-15) in the first round at 2 p.m. The first and second round matches will be played at the Varsity Tennis Courts and are hosted by the University of Tennessee.

Tech's Albert Larregola (Sr., Lleida, Spain), ranked No. 45 nationally in singles, is expected to receive a bid when NCAA singles and doubles participants are announced Wednesday afternoon at 5 p.m. on www.ncaasports.com.

Eighth-ranked Tennessee (21-3) faces No. 69 Furman (16-10) in the other first round match Saturday at 11 a.m. with the two winners advancing to the Sun., May 11, second round contest at 2 p.m. The Knoxville regional is one of 16 in the 64-team event with regional winners advancing to the NCAA Championship Finals in Tulsa, Okla., May 16-21. The individual singles and doubles competition will follow team competition on May 22-26.

"We are very excited about getting a bid to the NCAA tournament again this year," said Virginia Tech head coach Jim Thompson. "It has been our goal all year to return to the NCAA tournament and it is very satisfying to see our guys achieve such a great thing. I know if each guy performs his best, great things can happen for the Hokies. It is going to be a great week of practice and a very exciting first round match with Kentucky."

Tech (15-8), defeated then No. 69 Clemson, 4-3, in the first round of the 2008 ACC Championships in Altamonte Springs, Fla. before being eliminated by No. 28 Wake Forest, 4-2. The Hokies faced one of the toughest schedules in the program's history including 18 ranked teams and four Top 25 programs. This season's bid is the eighth in the program's history as Tech made five consecutive NCAA appearances by winning the Atlantic 10 championship every year while in the league with the most recent appearance occurring last season.

In 2007, Tech traveled to Charlottesville, Va. to face No. 30 Old Dominion, with the Hokies suffering a narrow 4-3 loss.

Tech is led by All-ACC selections Larregola and Nicolas Delgado de Robles (Jr., Madrid, Spain), who posted a 24-14 singles mark this season playing near the top of the line-up. Larregola was a finalist at the Wilson/ITA Mideast Region tournament in the fall and advanced to the Round of 16 at the ITA National Indoor Championship.