Virginia Tech Team Page
The Atlantic Coast Conference announced the brackets for the 2005 ACC Men's and Women's Tennis Championships held at the Cary Tennis Center in Cary, N.C., on April 21-24. Conference newcomer Virginia Tech will compete in its first-ever tennis championship.
Tech's men's team, ranked No. 52 by the ITA this week, is the eighth seed in the 11-team bracket. The Hokies are paired up to play 66th-ranked Miami, the ninth seed in the bracket, on Thursday, April, 21 at 9 a.m.
"Miami is a great team who we know and have played for several years," said head coach Jim Thompson. "Most of the time our matches with Miami have been close and our 4-3 win over them earlier this season is a great indicator of that. They had some chances to win in that match but we fought hard and the outcome went in our favor. I know they will be fired up and we have to go out and prove we are the better team."
The Hokies post a 13-10 overall and 4-6 ACC record. The Hurricanes have a 11-10 dual record and are 2-8 in conference matches.
Tech, then No. 68 beat then-No. 56 Miami 4-3 in the regular season on March 6 in Coral Gables, Fla. The win was Tech's first upset of a higher-ranked team this season and was the second win of their eight-match win streak. Hokies Adel Abbas, Alexey Sergeev, Stephane Rod and Angel Diankov all won their singles matches to give Tech the victory.
The winner of the match moves on to face the No. 1 seed in the championships, second-ranked Virginia on Friday, April 22 at 9 a.m.
On Saturday, April 23 will be two semi-final matches. The first semi-final match is slated for 10 a.m. while the second semi-final match will be played at 1 p.m. The 11 a.m. championship match will end the conference championship on Sunday, April 24.
To view the complete bracket and more championship information including ticket prices and driving directions, visit the men's tennis page on theacc.com at http://theacc.collegesports.com/sports/m-tennis/acc-m-tennis-champ-05.html.
The Hokies are the 11th seed in the women's bracket and are set to open the conference championship against #6 seed Wake Forest, ranked No. 25 by the ITA.
Tech is 7-16 overall and 0-10 in the ACC. The Demon Deacons' overall record is 12-9 and have a 5-4 mark in conference action.
The Hokies suffered a 7-0 shutout at the hands of the Deacons in the regular season.
Tech's second-year head coach Terry Ann Zawacki-Woods stated "We are very excited about playing Wake Forest in our first ACC Championship. It has been a tough season for us, but we have taken away some good experiences that we can use going into the championship. We are looking to play our best tennis this weekend and hope to get back freshman Jessica Long into the line-up."
Zawacki-Woods is no stranger to the Demon Deacons or the ACC Championship. Woods was a two-time All-American at Wake Forest and led the Demon Deacons to three ACC finals in the late 1990's.
Next up for the winner of the match is a 3 p.m. contest versus the No. 2 seed, ninth-ranked Miami, on Friday, April 22.
The two semi-final matches will be played on Saturday, April 23 at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. The championships concluded with the 11 a.m. championships match on Sunday, April 24.
For more championship information including the full bracket, ticket prices and driving directions, visit the women's tennis page on theacc.com at http://theacc.collegesports.com/sports/w-tennis/acc-w-tennis-champ-05.html.
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