Former Virginia Tech men's tennis player, Mark Tepes will represent the United States February 6-11 when the team travels to San Diego, Calif. to compete in the 2012 International Tennis Federation (ITF) Senior World Championships. 

The Italia Cup is one of 10 cups – each of which represents a different age division and/or gender. Ages range from 35 to 55 for both men and women. In all, 40 players will represent the United States in a competition unlike any regular tennis match as they match up against teams from around the world. It is the highest ranked team event on the circuit.

Tepes played at Tech under former coach Larsen Bowker from 1994-98 and graduated in the Fall of 1998. 

Full Story by Michael Gladysz at the UTSA can be found by clicking here.

 

Virginia Tech alumni, Pedro Graber-Anguita has secured a pair of big wins this week at the ITF USA F28 Futures event in Birmingham, Ala.

The former Hokie moved through the qualifying draw easily, picking up four wins in straight sets. Graber-Anguita moved into the main draw and defeated Tennys Sandgren in the opening round. Sandgren currently holds an ATP ranking of 543 in singles. He is a former collegiate standout, having played at Tennessee. While with the Vols he was ranked as high as No. 32 by the ITA.

In the second round, Graber-Anguita secured a win over Nathaniel Schnugg who holds a current ATP ranking of 1248. Schnugg previously played at the University of Georgia where he ranked as high as No. 10 in the nation in the ITA standings.

With Thursday’s win, Graber-Anguita moves into the round of eight in Birmingham. 

Virginia Tech tennis player Patrick Daciek will compete in the first-ever US Open National Playoffs – Mixed Doubles Championship, August 24-27, at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale in New Haven, Conn.

 

Daciek, a senior from Severna Park, Md., and his partner, Skylar Morton of Bethesda, Md., won the Mid-Atlantic Sectional Qualifying Tournament with a victory against brother-sister duo Tara and Venkat Iyer, winning the mixed doubles title, 6-0 6-1. Prior to the tournament Morton and Daciek had never played doubles together, but knew each other from training at the Junior Tennis Champions Center.

 

The team will begin play on August 24^th against the Pacific Northwest champions, Marie-Eve Pelletier and former ATP touring pro Aleksandar Vlaski. The winner of that match will advance to play the team of Christina Fusano and David Martin, the Southern Sectional winners.

 

The tournament is being held in conjunction with the New Haven Open at Yale presented by First Niagara, the final Olympus US Open Series women’s event of the summer. The winning team will receive a wild card into the main draw of the 2011 US Open Mixed Doubles Tournament, starting Wednesday, August 31, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., the home of the US Open.

 

Mixed doubles was added to the US Open National Playoffs this year, following the debut of men’s and women’s singles last year. This year, 192 teams competed in mixed doubles at one of 16 Sectional Qualifying Tournaments, and 14 teams have advanced to New Haven (two teams have withdrawn). The US Open National Playoffs function as a series of tournaments held throughout the United States to make the US Open eligible to anyone and everyone 14 and over with the passion to compete, regardless of playing ability or nationality.

 

Tech recruit Hunter Koontz won three titles at the recently completed 2011 Virginia High School League (VHSL) AAA Boys Championships. Koontz, who will join the Hokies as a freshmen this fall, led his Deep Run High School team to the state title on June 4 with a 5-1 win over Mills Godwin.

Last weekend, Koontz swept both the singles and doubles championships played a Jefferson District Park in Fairfax, Va. In singles, he won three matches on the way to the state title with the loss of only six total games in six sets. Koontz paired with Evan Charles to cruise to the doubles championship without the loss of a set.

  Six Virginia Tech athletics programs received Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA for their recent multi-year Academic Progress Rates. The NCAA hands out these awards annually to programs whose APR ranks in the top 10 in their respective sport. The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 academic years.
 

The Tech programs recognized were men’s basketball, men’s cross country, golf, men’s tennis, women’s swimming and diving and volleyball.

 The APR is a metric established and used by the NCAA to measure a program’s success in moving student-athletes toward graduation. An APR score of 925 is the minimum level of academic success, and teams scoring below 925 can lose scholarships and face other sanctions over time, including bans on postseason play.

 Full APR scores for all teams, including penalties for low-performing teams, will be released May 24.

The final day of the UVa Ranked Plus One Invitational was rained out on Sunday. Several Hokies will return to action Oct. 2-10 at the ITA All-American in Tulsa, Okla.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Virginia Tech men’s tennis player Patrick Daciek won his quarterfinal match on Monday morning, but dropped the afternoon semifinal  and was eliminated in the ITA/USTA National Summer Championships being played at the Indiana University Varsity Tennis Center. This is the ninth straight year IU is serving as tournament host.

Daciek (Jr., Severna Park, Md.), a 5-8 seed, won his quarterfinal against unseeded Anderson Reed (Florida State), 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (6), but dropped a, 7-6, 6-1, decision in the semifinal against No. 2 seed Eliot Potvin (Georgia Tech). Daciek and the remainder of his Tech teammates will now begin preparing for the fall individual season which will begin in early September.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Virginia Tech men’s tennis player Patrick Daciek won his singles match on Sunday to advance to the quarterfinals of the ITA/USTA National Summer Championships at the Indiana University Varsity Tennis Center. This is the ninth straight year IU is serving as tournament host.

Daciek (Jr., Severna Park, Md.), a 5-8 seed, won two matches on Saturday after receiving a first round bye to advance to Sunday’s Round of 16. He defeated Jordan Smith (Memphis), 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (4), Sunday to advance to Monday’s 9 a.m. quarterfinal against Anderson Reed (Florida State). Will Beck (Sr., Potomac, Md.) also won his first two matches, but lost, 6-4, 6-7, 1-0 (10), against Daniel Whithead (Texas), a 5-8 seed. The Tech duo, seeded No. 4 in doubles, lost their opening match, 8-6, later on Sunday against Jamison Clark (Vincennes)/Reid Garlock (DePauw)

Two members of the Tech women’s team are also participating in the event. Holly Johnson (Sr., Tallahassee, Fla.) and Martha Blakely (Jr., Reading, Pa.) were 9-16 seeds, however both were upset in their first round Saturday matches. Johnson bounced back to outlast Mallory Weber (Missouri), 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (9), later in the day in the consolation round, while Blakely dropped her match. Johnson was eliminated Sunday with a, 6-3, 6-3, loss to Kelsey Haviland (Ohio State). The Tech pair, seeded No. 4 in doubles, dropped a 9-7 decision Sunday evening versus Chelcie Abajain/Breanne Smutka (Illinois) in Sunday’s opening round of doubles competition.

The ITA/USTA National Summer Championships are the pinnacle of the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit, which was played at 32 regional sites throughout the country last month. A total of 2,965 players participated in ITA Summer Circuit events this year, falling just short of 2009’s record-breaking mark of 2,976.

Nearly 30,000 men and women have competed in ITA Summer Circuit events since it began in 1993. The circuit provides college (and junior and alumni) players the opportunity to compete in organized events virtually year round. Although the primary focus of the circuit is to provide incoming freshman and collegiate players the chance to compete in the summer months, for NCAA compliance purposes, the events within the ITA Summer Circuit are categorized as “open”; therefore anyone is eligible to compete in these events as long as he/she is a current ITA member.

New in 2010 is the addition of the Mid-Atlantic Circuit as well as a fourth site (New Mexico) in the Mountain Circuit. The ITA Summer Circuit is currently made up of eight regional circuits (East, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Central, Mountain, Southwest and West) and all eight regions consist of four consecutive open tournaments played during the month of July, leading up to the August 7-11 ITA/USTA National Summer Championships in Bloomington, Indiana.

The singles and doubles champions from the ITA/USTA National Summer Championships earn wild cards into the first national tournaments of the 2010-11 collegiate tennis season - the D’Novo Men’s and Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships in early October.

Trpimir Kujundzic (Zagreb, Croatia), a rising sophomore on the men's tennis team, captured the title last week at the UNCG ITA Summer Circuit tournament on the UNC Greensboro campus. Kujundzic rolled through six matches without dropping a set en route to the championship. Two other Hokies also had successful tournament as rising senior Will Beck (Potomac, Md.) won four matches before having to retire against Kujundzic in the quarterfinals. Zach Pine (Vienna, Va.), a rising junior, had a solid tournament winning three matches before losing in the quarterfinals to Beck. Beck/Pine were eliminated in the doubles quarters as was Kujundzic and non-Hokie Zachary Braig.

The women's team was also well represented in the event as rising junior Martha Blakely (Reading, Pa.) won four matches before falling in the finals and Holly Johnson (Tallahassee, Fla.), a rising senior, advanced to semifinals where she lost to Blakely. Megan Conley (Knoxville, Tenn.), a rising sophomore, lost in the consolation round. Blakely/Johnson won three matches in the doubles competition before falling in the finals.

Men's tennis player Patrick Daciek (Jr., Severna Park, Md.) recently qualified to earn a world ranking while competing this summer on the ITF Futures tour. Daciek won three qualifying matches at the ITF Futures in Pittsburgh, Pa., on clay earlier this month to advance into the main draw. One of the qualifying victories was a, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5, win over Drew Courtney (Virginia) who ended the year ranked No. 43 nationally in collegiate singles.  Daciek defeated Phillip Orno (Denmark), 6-3, 7-5, to earn his first ITF point which gave him a No.1530 world ranking. He was eliminated in the next round by second-seeded Gregory Quellette (USA), 7-5, 6-2.

This past week, Daciek participated in the USTA/MAS McDonald's Men's Clay Court $30,000 Championships in Richmond, Va. The rising junior won his first two matches including a, 6-3, 6-0, win against No. 5 seed German Boryachinskiy (Clemson). Daciek lost in the quarterfinal to No. 3 seed David McNamara, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4.

Daciek paired with Daniel Stahl (Notre Dame) to the advance to the doubles semifinals where they lost to the top seeds and eventual champions Sergio Roiss/Sanam Singh, 6-3, 6-3.

Elsewhere, in Zagreb, Croatia,  rising junior Luka Somen had a very successful performance at the Croatian National Championships. Somen, seeded eighth, won four matches, including an upset of the No. 5 seed to advance to the best-of-five set final where he lost to top seek Kristijan Mesaros who is ranked No. 689 in the world.

Several members of the Tech men’s and women’s tennis teams have had success on the ITA Summer Circuit. On the women’s side, Holly Johnson (Sr., Tallahassee, Fla.) has won tournaments hosted by Virginia Tech and Mary Washington by defeating teammate Martha Blakely (Jr., Reading, Pa.) in both finals. Katie Blow (Sr., Richmond, Va.) advanced to the quarterfinals at each event.

In the Virginia Tech tournament, Blakely/Johnson teamed up to win the doubles competition. At Mary Washington, Blow/Johnson paired to win the doubles over Blakely/Whitney Wilson (Michigan State) in the final.

On the men’s side, Will Beck (Sr., Potomac, Md.) dominated the Virginia Tech tournament winning five matches without the loss of set on the way to the title. Beck paired with Nobuyoshi Tanaka (Longwood) to win four matches on the way to the doubles title. Trpimir Kujundzic (So., Zagreb, Croatia) advanced to the singles semifinals in the Virgina Tech tourney, while Zach Pine (Jr., Vienna, Va.) won two matches before being eliminated in the quarterfinals. The two paired in the doubles to advance to the semifinals.

Beck followed up his success in Blacksburg the next week at Mary Washington by winning three matches before falling, 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (7), in the final against Tanaka. 

SKILLAM, N.J. – Virginia Tech head men’s tennis coach Jim Thompson has been named as the winner of the United State Tennis Association (USTA)/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Community Outreach Award for the Mid-Atlantic Section. Thompson was one of ten sectional winners of the award from around the nation.

The USTA/ITA Community Outreach Award honors ITA coaches for significant contributions in developing community-based tennis programs through community centers, schools, parks, community tennis associations, inner city or rural programs. Thompson was instrumental in establishing a junior tennis program at Virginia Tech’s Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center which has shown tremendous growth. A junior tennis challenge ladder was also created along with several tournaments for New River Valley juniors. For more information on NRV junior tennis, go to www.nrvtennis.org.

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Virginia Tech men’s tennis players Yoann Re, Patrick Daciek and Luka Somen each are included in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national singles preseason rankings.

Re (Sr., Verdun, Quebec, Canada), a 2009 All-ACC selection, is ranked No. 35 nationally after battling back from a broken collarbone in late March to advance to the NCAA Singles Championships. He ended the 2008-09 season ranked No. 60 in the nation and No. 13 in Mideast Region. Re posted a 20-12 singles record last season including  a 4-1 mark in the ACC and 13-3 in dual matches playing mostly at the No. 1 position.

Daciek (So., Severna Park, Md.), received a No. 81 national ranking following an outstanding freshman season which saw him end the year ranked No. 27 in Mideast Region. He posted a 21-10 singles record including 6-2 in the ACC and 11-4 in dual matches. Daciek also recorded 18 doubles victories.

Somen (So., Karlovac, Croatia), the 2009 ACC Freshman of the Year and VaSID Rookie of the Year, is ranked No. 125 and led team with 24 singles victories playing in the middle of the lineup. Last year, he earned a No. 20 ITA doubles preseason national ranking with Nicolas Delgado de Robles.

The Hokies, ranked No. 27 in the final 2008-09 ITA national poll, finished with a 15-8 record last season and advanced to the NCAA Second Round. Members of the men’s team will head in separate directions this weekend to open the fall individual season with some players taking part in the Landfall Invitational in Wilmington, N.C. while others will participate in the UVa Invitational in Charlottesville, Va.

The Tech men's and women's teams both placed high in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. The men's team received a final ranking of No. 27 after advancing to the NCAA Second Round. The women's team moved up one spot in the final poll with a No. 54 national ranking. Both teams showed improvement from their final 2008 rankings where the men were No. 28 and the women No. 60.

Patrick Daciek, an incoming freshman from Severna Park, Md., captured the National Collegiate Clay Court Championships in Pittsburgh, Pa. over the weekend. Daciek cruised through the event without the loss of a set in winning six matches.

The ITA Summer Circuit is made up of seven regional circuits (East, Southeast, Midwest, Central, Mountain, Southwest and West) for collegiate players. Each region consists of four consecutive tournaments played during the month of July. The ITA Summer Circuit began in 1993 and over 22,000 players have competed in circuit events since its inception. The three remaining East region events are scheduled for Hanover, N.H. (July 12-15), University Park, Pa. (July 19-22) and Ithaca, N.Y. (July 26-29). The ITA National Summer Championships will take place Aug. 11-15 at Indiana University.

Daciek, seeded third in the event, defeated Bradley Portnoy, 6-1, 6-2, in his opening match before blanking Christopher Nixon, 6-0, 6-0. He was almost as impressive with a 6-1, 6-1, win over Ethan Arenstein, then defeated 12th-seed Preetham Moras, 6-2, 7-5, in the quarterfinals. Daciek eliminated No. 8 seed Mikhael Rasner 6-1, 6-1, in the semifinals, then won took the title with a 6-3, 6-2, victory against No. 7 seed Jeremy McClelland.

The National Collegiate Clay Court Championship actually began 120 years ago in 1889. Past tournament champions include Bill Tilden, Peter Fleming and Vitas Gerulaitis.

Several members of the Virginia Tech men's tennis team participated in the USTA-Virginia Open Clay Court Championships. The event was held June 6-9 at Glenmore Country Club in Keswick, Va. with several collegiate players participating in the tournament.

Albert Larregola, a senior who recently completed his collegiate career at Tech, was seeded second and won three, straight-set matches in the event to advance to the finals. Larregola, No. 44 nationally and sixth in the Mideast Region in the final rankings, lost 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, in the finals to Trent Huey, a member of the University of Virginia team and ranked No. 33 in the nation and fourth in the region.

Two other Hokies participated in the event as Ignaci Roca, another senior who recently completed his career, advanced to the quarterfinals while Eduardo Pinto, who will be a junior next fall, lost in the Round of 16. In doubles, Larregola/Roca, seeded second, dropped the championship match, 7-6 (2), 6-4, to Virginia's top-seeded duo of Ted Angelinous/Huey,

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) earlier today released its final Division I team rankings of the season, and both of the Virginia Tech teams found themselves in the top-75 polls.

The men finished the year at No. 28, moving up 11 spots from last year's end of the season poll. The team tied a career-best finish that was set in 1997. The Hokies posted a 16-9 (6-5 ACC) record and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The women landed at No. 60 for the second straight season after finishing the year with a 14-13 (2-9 ACC) record. The ranking marks the first time since 2000 that the women earned a spot in the final poll two years in a row.

The entire list of the polls can be found here.

Pedro Graber, a sophomore from Santiago, Chile, underwent successful surgery Monday on his right wrist. The procedure was performed by Dr. Jim Lebolt, orthopedic physician, at Montgomery Regional Hospital. Despite the wrist injury, Graber won 12 singles and nine doubles matches to help the Hokies to a 16-9 record and advance to the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive season. Graber is expected to be ready to return to the court in the fall.

The undefeated men's tennis team moved up nine spots to No. 24 in this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association national poll. Albert Larregola (Sr., Lleida, Spain) moves up 32 spots to No. 54 nationally in singles after helping the Hokies defeat then-No. 44 SMU, 5-2, last Friday with a victory over Robin Fahgen, then ranked 50th nationally, in the No. 1 singles contest.

Tech (10-0, 2-0) does not play this week and will take to the road next week to play at No. 41 Louisville and No. 14 Tennessee.

The Tech women's team (10-3, 0-1) also took big steps up the rankings, moving up 17 spots to No. 43 after upsetting then-No. 25 VCU (4-3), sweeping Longwood (7-0) and defeating Richmond (5-2). The Hokies will be tested this week as they visit No. 63 East Carolina on Thursday (1 p.m.), No. 52 NC State on Saturday (12 p.m.) and No. 37 Wake Forest on Sunday (12 p.m.)  

Men’s tennis player Albert Larregola was recently named Virginia Tech’s Virginia Lottery Athlete of the Week for his efforts at the ITA/Wilson Mideast Region Championships this past weekend in Charlottesville, Va. Ranked No. 100 nationally, the Lleda, Spain, native took a tough 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 quarterfinal victory over 46th-ranked Cory Parr (Wake Forest), then completely dominated Clint Bowles (Florida State), ranked No. 105 nationally, 6-0, 6-1. Though he lost in Monday's final against No. 65 Dominic Inglot (Virginia), he has qualified for the ITA National Indoor Championships, which will be held at Ohio State University Nov. 1-4. Here us a brief Q&A with Albert:

• Which match was more satisfying for you … the tough 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 win over the No. 46 player, or the 6-0, 6-1 domination of the No. 105 player?

“I was really happy to win both matches in the same day, but I was really proud of myself when I beat the No. 46 player in the nation because I know he is a very good player. It was a very tough match and I was able to pull it out. In the second match, I played almost perfectly, because I had a lot of confidence from the previous one.”

• What was the difference maker in the title match, and what did you learn from it?

“The difference maker in the title match was probably the serve. He just served too well and I wasn’t able to do the same. What I learned from this tournament is that I can play with anyone in the nation, and I think that this result is going to help my confidence for the rest of the season.”

• What are your expectations for the ITA National Championships? Your teammate, Arvid Purnanen, qualified for the same event last year - has he given you any advice?

“I actually wasn’t expecting to qualify for the ITA National Championships, but now that I am in the tournament, I expect to go as far as possible. I know it is going to be a very difficult tournament, but I have confidence in myself. I haven’t actually spoken with Arvid about it, but I’m sure he would give me some helpful advice.”