September 8, 2006

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Three Virginia Tech tennis players have earned preseason national singles rankings as released today by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Women's tennis player Inga Beermann is ranked No. 37 while men's players Arvid Puranen (No. 34) and Albert Larregola (No. 91) also earned national recognition.

Beermann (So., Bad Salzuflen, Germany), an architecture major and a member of the ACC All-conference team, finished the season with a 29-9 overall record and ranked 52^nd in the nation. She became the first Virginia Tech women's tennis player to participate in the NCAA Tournament, making her way to the Round of 32 before bowing out. Beermann was also selected as the ITA's East Region Rookie of the Year and received the same award from the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID). She was also selected to the All-ACC Academic team and was named an ITA Scholar Athlete.

Puranen (Sr., Lulea, Sweden), majoring in industrial & systems engineering, ended last year with a 20-15 singles record and advanced to the NCAA Championships in Stanford, Calif. He posted a 7-4 ACC record playing at the top of the Tech lineup. Puranen concluded the year ranked No. 54 nationally and No. 3 in the Northeast Region. He recorded victories during the season over No. 18 Todd Paul (Wake Forest), No. 30 Clement Reix (Clemson), and No. 36 Ytai Abougzir (Florida State). Puranen advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Northeast Regional and the Rice Crowne Plaza Invitational. Puranen was also selected to the VaSID All-State team and was named to the All-ACC Academic team as well as an ITA Scholar Athlete.

Larregola (Jr., Lleida, Spain), a university studies major, posted a 21-14 singles record last season and was 6-5 in the ACC playing primarily at the No. 2 and 3 positions. He also recorded 17 doubles victories for the Hokies. Larregola, ranked No. 8 in the final Northeast Region ranking, defeated nationally-ranked Rylan Rizza (Virginia) and Andrew Hamar (Wake Forest) during the regular season. He was a member of the All-ACC Academic team and was named an ITA Scholar Athlete.

Puranen and Larregola, along with other members of the men's squad, are in Athens, Ga. this weekend participating in the 38^th Annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships. Beermann and the remainder of the women's team open their fall season next week at the William & Mary Tribe Invitational.