March 27, 2003

BLACKSBURG, VA -- The 42nd-ranked Virginia Tech men's tennis team defeated Old Dominion 5-1 on Wednesday afternoon at the Burrows/Burleson Tennis Center. The win was the Hokies sixth in their last seven matches as Virginia Tech improved to 14-5 on the year. The loss drops the Monarchs to 11-6 overall.

After winning the doubles point, Tech won four of the five completed matches. The Monarchs did manage one victory in double competition with the team of sophomore Izak van der Merwe (Kempton Park, South Africa) and senior Patrik Binkowski (Orby, Sweden) defeating Angel Diankov and Grant Reynolds 8-6 at No. 2 doubles.

In single play, #111 van der Merwe was the only Monarch to pick up a victory. Van der Merwe posted a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Adreas Laulund at No. 2 singles. Tech's Francis Huot cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 1 over junior Zoltan Csasadi (Timisoara, Romania) while Michael Kurz won 6-3, 6-4 in the No. 4 match against Binkowski. Angel Diankov defeated junior Niklas Oskarsson (Halmsted, Sweden) 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5 and David Emery won 6-4, 6-2 in the No. 6 match against freshman Adriano Mello (Londrina, Brazil). The Hokies' Stephane Rod led junior Calin Milos (Timisoara, Romania), 3-6, 6-2, 3-0, when the match was halted after the team match victor had been determined.

The Monarchs will look to rebound when they face N.C. State on Saturday, March 29th.

MATCH SUMMARY

SINGLES:


No. 1 Francis Huot (VT) def. Zoltan Csandi (ODU) 6-4, 6-2
No. 2 #111 Izak van der Merwe (ODU) def. Andreas Laulund (VT) 6-4, 7-5
No. 3 Stephane Rod (VT) vs. Calin Milos (ODU) 3-6, 6-2, 3-0 DNF
No. 4 Michael Kurz (VT) def. Patrik Binkowski (ODU) 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 Angel Diankov (VT) def. Niklas Oskarsson (ODU) 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 David Emery (VT) def. Adriano Mello (ODU) 6-4, 6-2


DOUBLES:


No. 1 #59 Laulund/Rod (VT) def. Csandi/Mello (ODU) 8-5
No. 2 Binkowski/van der Merwe (ODU) def. Diankov/Grant Reynolds (VT) 8-6
No. 3 Huot/Kurz (VT) def. Milos/Oskarsson (ODU) 8-2