Wake Forest Athletics
Deacs Kick Off Home Stand With Miami, Florida State
3/31/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 31, 2011
The Wake Forest men's tennis team begins a stretch of five straight home matches this weekend when it takes on No. 28 Miami on Friday at 3:30 p.m. and No. 47 Florida State on Sunday at noon. Both matches will be played at Hanes Park, weather permitting.
Directions: To get to Hanes Park from campus, turn left out of the University onto Reynolda Rd. Proceed for approximately 2 miles and then veer right onto West End Blvd. The tennis courts are located on your right. The parking lot can be accessed from Sunset Dr., shortly past the entrance to the YMCA
Home, Sweet Home
Wake Forest (8-7, 2-3 ACC) will play five straight home matches after returning from a three-match road swing. The Demon Deacons posted a 2-1 record in those three matches, beating Clemson and NC State, with the only setback coming at No. 21 Georgia Tech.
The Deacs' most recent match came last Tuesday when they made the short trip down I-40 to face the Wolfpack, posting a thrilling 5-2 win. Four of the singles matches went the full third sets, but Wake won all of them, getting victories from Iain Atkinson, Adam Lee, Danny Kreyman and David Hopkins to take the match.
Quality Over Quantity
Iain Atkinson and David Hopkins have only played doubles together four times this season, but they did enough in those matches to launch into the ITA Doubles Rankings this week, entering the national chart at No. 36.
The main component of the rankings is victories over other ranked teams, and Atkinson and Hopkins already have two, both coming in tiebreaks. In their season debut against North Carolina, they sneaked by No. 59 Joey Burkhardt and Stefan Hardy 8-7 (5).
The upperclass duo picked up their best win of the season, and the best of Hopkins' career, last weekend with an impressive 8-7 (4) win over No. 11 Kevin King and Juan Spir of Georgia Tech. 32 teams qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championships at the end of the season, and if the Deacon duo continue their strong play, they will be in contention for an NCAA bid.
Deacons in the Rankings
Iain Atkinson and David Hopkins weren't the only Wake Forest representatives in this week's ITA Rankings.
The team moved up to No. 35 after the win over Clemson. Jonathan Wolff jumped seven spots to No. 63 in the singles rankings, putting him on the bubble for an NCAA singles bid, and Tripper Carleton hung in the ITA Top 125, coming in at No. 113.
Going the Distance
Head coach Jeff Zinn remarked that winning four three-setters against NC State was a pretty impressive feat, but he probably didn't know just how rare of an accomplishment it was.
The last time the Deacs won four singles matches in three sets in a dual match came all the way back in 2002, interestingly enough also against NC State. In that match, the Demon Deacons earned a 7-0 win, helped by three-set victories by David Bere, Trent Brandon, Mike Murray and Andrew Simpson, though Simpson won a 10-point tiebreak for his third set.
The last time Wake won four matches that played out full third sets came earlier on in the 2002 season, as Murray, David Loewenthal, Derrick Spice and Justin Kaufman all went the distance to lead the Deacs to a 6-1 road victory over San Diego.
Scouting the Hurricanes
Miami enters today's match ranked No. 28 in the country, and has won four of its first five ACC matches, with the lone loss coming against No. 1 Virginia.
With no ranked singles or doubles players, the Hurricanes' success thus far has been the result of a true team effort. The Canes have a winning record at every singles position but No. 1, with Keith Crowley, Gabriel Flores and Eduardo Pavia all tied for the team lead with 10 dual match singles wins.
Miami has struggled in doubles, dropping the doubles point on eight occasions this season, but remarkably, the Canes have been able to win four dual matches this season without winning doubles.
Scouting the Seminoles
Florida State (6-10, 1-4 ACC) has gotten its season off to a slow start, heading into the weekend on a five-match losing streak. However, the most of the Noles' losses have been tight affairs to highly-ranked teams and they are not a team that can be taken lightly.
The ITA individual rankings accentuate that point, as the Seminoles have two ranked singles players in No. 24 Vahid Mirzadeh and No. 91 Clint Bowles. FSU's top doubles team of No. 12 Mirzadeh and Connor Smith will pose a tough test for Wake's top duo of Iain Atkinson and David Hopkins as they look to knock-off a top 15 team for the second weekend in a row.
What's Next?
Wake Forest will host a mid-week match against No. 33 Louisville on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m, before playing two tough home ACC matches next weekend. The Deacs will take on No. 36 Virginia Tech on April 8 at 3:30 before facing No. 1 Virginia on April 10 at noon.
Twitter
For up-to-the minute Wake Forest tennis news, follow the Deacs on Twitter @WakeTennis or twitter.com/WakeTennis
Players Mentioned
