Wake Forest Athletics
Deacons End Regular Season on the Road at Maryland, BC
4/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 14, 2011
The Wake Forest men's tennis team will close out the regular season on the road as it faces No. 48 Maryland on Friday and Boston College on Sunday. Next week begins the postseason as the Deacs will travel to Cary Tennis Park for the 2011 ACC Championships which begin on Thursday, April 21.
A Look Back...
Iain Atkinson earned the best win of his career on his Senior Day and the Wake Forest men's tennis team pushed No. 1 Virginia as hard as any team this season, but the visiting Cavaliers (24-0, 9-0 ACC) eventually squeaked out five points to defeat the Demon Deacons 5-2 at Hanes Park on Sunday.
After dropping the doubles point and losing the first set on every court to the nation's top-ranked team, the Demon Deacons (10-10, 3-6 ACC) were in need of a spark, and fittingly on Senior Day it was seniors Atkinson and Jonathan Wolff who provided it, rallying along with Danny Kreyman and Tripper Carleton to win their second sets against ranked players. Kreyman scored the first win for Wake Forest at No. 4, defeating No. 120 Justin Shane 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Atkinson notched the best victory of his career at No. 3 singles against No. 25 Sanam Singh. After coming back to force a third set, the Washington, England native fell down a break twice in the deciding frame, providing Singh with a chance to serve out the match at 5-4, but the senior broke back and went on to win the final three games to close out a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory. Singh was the highest-ranked player that he had defeated in his time at Wake Forest. Eventually the Cavaliers' star-studded lineup proved to be too much, though Wolff and Carleton went toe-to-toe with Virginia's two top-five players before succumbing.
Atkinson and Wolff Superb On Senior Day
Iain Atkinson and Jonathan Wolff put on some of the best performances of their careers in their final home match against No. 1 Virginia.
Atkinson took down the highest-ranked opponent of his career in No. 25 Sanam Singh and Wolff played some of the best tennis of his career in a near upset of No. 2 Alex Domijan, falling 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Wolff is the only player to take a set off of the Virginia freshman in a dual match.
Deacons in the Rankings
Propelled by his win over No. 25 Sanam Singh, Iain Atkinson jumped back into the singles rankings this week, coming in at No. 105. He joins Jonathan Wolff, who occupies the No. 85 spot in the singles rankings.
Wake's top doubles team of Iain Atkinson and David Hopkins slid a few spots to No. 50 in the national doubles rankings. The Deacs remained No. 34 in the team rankings.
Scouting the Terrapins
Maryland has put together a solid season and is currently ranked No. 48 in the ITA Rankings with a record of 10-10 (2-7 ACC). After starting the year 9-2, the Terrapins have dropped eight of their last nine matches.
The Terps' lone ranked singles player is No. 109 Maros Horny. Maryland's No. 1 doubles team of Horny and Jan Surovic is ranked No. 85.
Wake Forest has won 22 straight matches against Maryland, including a 4-0 victory in the first round of last year's ACC Championship.
Scouting the Eagles
Boston College carries a 6-15 (0-9 ACC) record into the weekend. The Eagles have taken on six total points in ACC play this season and are still searching for their first conference win. BC has won only one ACC match since joining the conference in 2006. Akash Muppidi has played most of the season at No. 1 singles for the Eagles.
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