Wake Forest Athletics
No. 25 Deacons Take on No. 1 Virginia, Virginia Tech
4/5/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 5, 2013
By Alex Botoman, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeMTennis)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The 25th-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team will face two of its toughest tests of the ACC season this weekend as it welcomes No. 1 Virginia and No. 55 Virginia Tech to Winston-Salem. The Demon Deacons host the Cavaliers on Saturday at noon and the Hokies on Sunday at noon at the Indoor Tennis Center.
Wake Forest is tied for fourth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings with a 14-5 (3-1 ACC) record. Top-ranked Virginia is the only remaining undefeated team in conference play with a 15-0 (4-0 ACC) record, while Virginia Tech occupies sixth place in the standings at 10-6 (2-2 ACC).
The Demon Deacons are holding their Alumni Weekend with a number of events planned in conjunction with the two matches. During Sunday's match against Virginia Tech, a ceremony will be held between doubles and singles to dedicate the six varsity courts to legendary men's tennis coach Jim Leighton.
Last Time Out...
Wake Forest swept the doubles point and then cruised through singles to beat No. 50 Miami 6-1 last Friday at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.
No. 77 David Hopkins and Amogh Prabhakar highlighted the doubles sweep with their third ranked win of the season, beating No. 66 Omar Aly and Wilfredo Gonzalez 8-7 (4).
Morgan Mays clinched the match in singles for the Demon Deacons with a victory at the No. 6 position. He was joined in the win column by Danny Kreyman, Amogh Prabhakar, Adam Lee and Jon Ho.
Deacons Return to ITA Top-25
Wake Forest moved back into the top-25 in the ITA Team Rankings this week, occupying the No. 25 spot. The Demon Deacons had been ranked No. 28 the past two weeks.
The Deacons have already spent four weeks in the top-25 this season, marking their first time being ranked among the nation's 25 best teams since the beginning of the 2011 season.
By ranking, the Demon Deacons are the second-most improved team in the county, moving up 44 spots from their final ranking of No. 69 in 2012. Only Clemson has gained more spots in the rankings, moving up 45 spots to No. 19.
No new individual rankings were released this week, meaning that Amogh Prabhakar remains at No. 60 in the singles rankings and the duo of Prabhakar and David Hopkins held at No. 77 in the doubles rankings.
Wake Forest Will Dedicate Courts to Jim Leighton Sunday
Wake Forest will dedicate its six varsity tennis courts to legendary men's tennis coach Jim Leighton in a ceremony that will take place during the Demon Deacon men's tennis team's match against Virginia Tech on Sunday.
The varsity courts will be known as the Leighton Courts at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex. The dedication continues the tradition of honoring Leighton, who coached the Demon Deacons from 1962-84 and is the winningest coach in program history with a 277-172 record. Leighton was posthumously inducted into the Wake Forest University Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.
Assault on the Record Books
With Wake Forest in the midst of one of the most successful seasons in program history, a number of Demon Deacons have been etching their names individually into the school record books.
Seniors David Hopkins and Danny Kreyman both picked up wins against Miami last week to continue their climbs up the Wake Forest career charts. Kreyman has won 101 singles matches in his career, tying him with David Loewenthal (2001-04) for fourth place in school history. Hopkins owns 88 career doubles victories, also tying him for fourth place among all-time Wake Forest players, equaling the marks set by current assistant coach Brett Ross, who played for the Demon Deacons from 2002-06, as well as Raul Munoz (1998-01).
A number of Demon Deacons are also making a run at some of the program's single-season winning records. Junior Adam Lee has won 29 singles matches this season, tying him for 13th place in school history. The Wake Forest single-season record is 36 wins, set by Derrick Spice in 2002.
Hopkins and Amogh Prabhakar have teamed up to win 22 doubles matches together this season, which is tied for the ninth-highest single-season total by a Wake Forest doubles team. The school record for doubles team wins in a season is 30, set by All-Americans Cory Parr and Steven Forman in 2009.
Scouting Virginia
As they have in eight of their last nine matches against Wake Forest, the Virginia Cavaliers enter Saturday's match as the top-ranked team in the nation. The Cavaliers are a perfect 15-0 this season, including 4-0 in ACC play.
Virginia can field a complete lineup of ranked players with four ranked doubles teams and six ranked singles players, including the top two players in the country in No. 1 Alex Domijan and No. 2 Jarmere Jenkins. Virginia has three top-10 doubles teams: No. 2 Jenkins and Mac Styslinger, No. 8 Domijan and Harrison Richmond, and No. 9 Domijan and Mitchell Frank.
Scouting Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech heads into the weekend in the middle of the ACC pack with a 10-6 (2-2 ACC) record. The Hokies have been competitive in almost every match this season though, as four of their six losses were 4-3 decisions.
Virginia Tech boasts two ranked singles players in No. 55 Amerigo Contini and No. 81 Andreas Bjerrehaus. Contini and Bjerrehaus form the 20th-ranked doubles team in the country.
Players Mentioned
