Monday, 04/16/2012

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The No. 63 University of Miami men’s tennis team will open ACC Championship play on Thursday, April 19 against No. 29 Florida State at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C. The match between the 12th-seeded Hurricanes and fifth-seeded Seminoles will begin at Noon.

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The 59th annual ACC Championships is a four-day tournament that will run until Sun., April 22. The top four seeds, Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Virginia Tech each earned a first-round bye to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals.

Miami (8-12, 1-10) is hoping to make noise in the tournament after an up and down season that began with six victories and only two losses. The team cooled off as the season progressed, but they still managed to earn victories over No. 48 Alabama and Wake Forest. The regular season concluded this past Sunday with a loss to the No. 3 Virginia Cavaliers.

Sophomore Diego Soto and freshman Wilfredo Gonzalez have highlighted the Canes’ effort in total victories this season. Soto earned the best singles record for the team at 13-6 that included matches at the No. 3 through No. 6 positions. Gonzalez had the next best record at 10-9. Soto posted the best ACC record at 5-4, while Gonzalez and Omar Aly were right behind, each with a 3-7 mark in conference play.

The Hurricanes met the Seminoles in a dual match earlier this season, on March 4 at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center, which ended in a 6-1 Miami loss. Gonzalez had a great day in the match as he earned a victory over FSU’s Christian Mendez at the No. 3 position.

Florida State (16-8, 7-4) finished their regular season on a four-match losing streak as they fell to each of the Top 4 seeds in the conference. All four losses ended with a 4-3 result.

The Seminoles are led by the No. 47 ranked doubles pair of Blake Davis and Jordan Kelly-Houston. The pair finished the season with an 11-10 record. In singles play, Davis ended the season with a record of 14-10 while Kelly-Houston finished at 10-13. The winner of the match will advance to the quarterfinals to take on the No. 4 seed Virginia Tech at Noon on Fri., April 20.

For more information on the University of Miami men's tennis team, please log on to HurricaneSports.com. To follow the UM Men's Tennis Team via twitter, please visit Twitter.com/CanesMensTennis.

Fans can keep up-to-date with all UM Athletics via twitter at Twitter.com/HurricaneSports. You can also become a fan of the Canes on Facebook at Facebook.com/MiamiHurricanes.

Complete Schedule
Thursday, April 19
No. 8 Georgia Tech vs. No. 9 Maryland – 9 a.m.
No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 12 Miami – 12 p.m.
No. 7 Clemson vs. No. 10 Wake Forest – 12 p.m.
No. 6 NC State vs. No. 11 Boston College – 3 p.m.

Friday, April 20
No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 8/9 Winner – 9 a.m.
No. 4 Virginia Tech vs. No. 5/12 Winner – 12 p.m.
No. 2 North Carolina vs. No. 7/10 Winner – 12 p.m.
No. 3 Duke vs. No. 6/11 Winner – 3 p.m.

Saturday, April 21
Semifinal 1 – 10 a.m.
Semifinal 2 – 1 p.m.

Sunday, April 22
Championship – 11 a.m.