Sunday, January 12
Winston-Salem, N.C.
10:30 a.m.
Wake Forest University
7
vs
0
Tennessee Tech
Demon Deacons Sweep Sunday Doubleheader to Open 2025 Campaign
1/12/2025 5:57:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Box Score 1Box Score 2PDF Box Score (Tennessee Tech)PDF Box Score (ETSU)Photo GalleryPhoto Gallery 2
The Deacs saw six players make their dual-match debuts on Sunday.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest men's tennis team opened the 2025 season with a pair of 7-0 victories over Tennessee Tech and ETSU Sunday inside the Wake Forest Tennis Center.
With the sweep, Wake Forest has now started the season 2-0 for the fourth-consecutive season.
In doubles, the Demon Deacons (2-0, 0-0 ACC) took courts one and two in both matches on Sunday, highlighted by sophomore Luca Pow and graduate student Luciano Tacchi going 2-0 together as they kept the momentum going after being named doubles All-Americans in the fall.
Graduate student Franco Capalbo also notched two doubles victories on the day, one with Martin Mazev (6-2 against Tennessee Tech) and another with Ioannis Xilas (6-3 vs. ETSU).
In singles, sophomore standout Luca Pow extended his dual-match winning-streak to 21-consecutive matches dating back to last season as he took down Murilo Burckhardt (TTU) 6-1, 6-2 and Pedro Cressoni (ETSU) 6-0, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5).
Six players made their dual-match debuts for Wake Forest, with Xilas, Harry Thursfield, Dylan Chang, Joaquin Guilleme, Nikola Parichkov and Mazev all taking the court on Sunday.
Xilas, who played both matches in the first singles position, was perfect on the day with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Tennessee Tech's Alex Alvarex and a 6-4, 6-2 win over ETSU's Peter Kalocsai. Of note, both of his wins were match clinches.
Tacchi and Capalbo made it four Demon Deacons to start the 2025 campaign with a 2-0 singles record (full results below).
Of note, the Deacs improved to 8-1 all-time against the Golden Eagles and 29-2 against the Buccaneers.
How It Happened (Tennessee Tech)
Singles Results (Tennessee Tech)
1. No. 115 Ioannis Xilas (WFU) def. Alex Alvarez (TTU) 6-1, 6-1
2. Luca Pow (WFU) def. Murilo Burckhardt (TTU) 6-1, 6-2
3. Luciano Tacchi (WFU) def. Oliver Dao (TTU) 6-3, 6-2
4. Franco Capalbo (WFU) def. Lucas Bitzer (TTU) 6-1, 6-1
5. Harry Thursfield (WFU) def. Davids Spaks (TTU) 3-3, retirement
6. Dylan Chang (WFU) def. Darek Kuczynski (TTU) 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 5, 2, 1, 4, 3, 6
Doubles Results (Tennessee Tech)
1. No. 4 Pow/Tacchi (WFU) def. Dao/Bitzer (TTU) 6-2
2. Capalbo/Mazev (WFU) def. Alvarez/Burckhardt (TTU) 6-2
3. Xilas/Parichkov (WFU) vs. Spaks/Kuczynski (TTU) 3-3, unfinished
Order of finish: 2, 1
How It Happened (ETSU)
Singles Results (ETSU)
1. No. 115 Ioannis Xilas (WFU) def. Peter Kalocsai (ETSU) 6-4, 6-2
2. Luciano Tacchi (WFU) def. Martin Garcia-Ripoll (ETSU) 6-1, 3-6, 1-1, retirement
3. Luca Pow (WFU) def. Pedro Cressoni (ETSU) 6-0, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5)
4. Joaquin Guilleme (WFU) def. Francisco Lamas (ETSU) 6-0, 6-2
5. Franco Capalbo (WFU) def. Juan Andres Listo (ETSU) 6-2, 6-0
6. Cornelius Shalmi (WFU) def. Carlos Gonzalez (ETSU) 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 4, 5, 1, 6, 2, 3
Doubles Results (ETSU)
1. No. 4 Pow/Tacchi (WFU) def. Kalocsai/Garcia-Ripoll (ETSU) 6-4
2. Capalbo/Xilas (WFU) def. Lamas/Listo (ETSU) 6-3
3. Shalmi/Mazev (WFU) vs. Sim/Cressoni (ETSU) 5-4, unfinished
Order of finish: 2, 1
From Coach Bresky
"Great start to the season. The boys were ready, prepared and excited. It's always fun playing at home in front of our fans. I thought we did a really good job and we're still missing a few guys in the lineup. We're excited to get two wins to start the season and now we're off to play Baylor on Friday and that should be a really tough match." - Head coach Tony Bresky
Next Up
The Demon Deacons will return to action Friday, Jan. 17, when they travel to face Baylor in Waco, Texas at 1 p.m.
Follow the Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
With the sweep, Wake Forest has now started the season 2-0 for the fourth-consecutive season.
In doubles, the Demon Deacons (2-0, 0-0 ACC) took courts one and two in both matches on Sunday, highlighted by sophomore Luca Pow and graduate student Luciano Tacchi going 2-0 together as they kept the momentum going after being named doubles All-Americans in the fall.
Graduate student Franco Capalbo also notched two doubles victories on the day, one with Martin Mazev (6-2 against Tennessee Tech) and another with Ioannis Xilas (6-3 vs. ETSU).
In singles, sophomore standout Luca Pow extended his dual-match winning-streak to 21-consecutive matches dating back to last season as he took down Murilo Burckhardt (TTU) 6-1, 6-2 and Pedro Cressoni (ETSU) 6-0, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5).
Six players made their dual-match debuts for Wake Forest, with Xilas, Harry Thursfield, Dylan Chang, Joaquin Guilleme, Nikola Parichkov and Mazev all taking the court on Sunday.
Xilas, who played both matches in the first singles position, was perfect on the day with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Tennessee Tech's Alex Alvarex and a 6-4, 6-2 win over ETSU's Peter Kalocsai. Of note, both of his wins were match clinches.
Tacchi and Capalbo made it four Demon Deacons to start the 2025 campaign with a 2-0 singles record (full results below).
Of note, the Deacs improved to 8-1 all-time against the Golden Eagles and 29-2 against the Buccaneers.
How It Happened (Tennessee Tech)
- Wake Forest took the early advantage in doubles, as Capalbo/Mazev broke the Tennessee Tech pair in second doubles early on and the other two courts remained on-serve.
- The Demon Deacons claimed the doubles point with simultaneous victories on courts one and two as No. 4 Tacchi/Pow and Capalbo/Mazev both picked up 6-2 wins.
- In singles, Luca Pow picked up where he left off last season, as he won the first five games of his match and eventually won the first set, 6-1, on court two.
- Xilas (6-1) and Tacchi (6-3) quickly followed as they took the first sets on courts one and three, respectively.
- On court four, Capalbo got his season started with a 6-1 first-set victory in fourth doubles.
- Thursfield took court three due to a medical retirement on court five as Wake Forest went up 2-0.
- His match was stopped at 3-3.
- Chang was the fifth Demon Deacon to take the first set as he took it on court six, 6-3.
- Wake Forest continued to roll into the second sets with the Deacs on courts 1-4 all jumping out to commanding leads.
- Pow put the Deacs up 3-0 as he picked up his 20th-consecutive victory in dual play and defeated Murilo Burckhardt, 6-1, 6-2 on court two.
- In his first dual match as a Demon Deacon, No. 115 Xilas clinched the match for Wake Forest with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Alex Alvarez in first singles.
- The remaining three matches were played out.
- In fourth singles, Capalbo got his season off on the right foot with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Lucas Bitzer.
- Tacchi (6-3, 6-2) and Chang (6-3, 6-2) finished out the sweep with wins on courts three and six, respectively.
Singles Results (Tennessee Tech)
1. No. 115 Ioannis Xilas (WFU) def. Alex Alvarez (TTU) 6-1, 6-1
2. Luca Pow (WFU) def. Murilo Burckhardt (TTU) 6-1, 6-2
3. Luciano Tacchi (WFU) def. Oliver Dao (TTU) 6-3, 6-2
4. Franco Capalbo (WFU) def. Lucas Bitzer (TTU) 6-1, 6-1
5. Harry Thursfield (WFU) def. Davids Spaks (TTU) 3-3, retirement
6. Dylan Chang (WFU) def. Darek Kuczynski (TTU) 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 5, 2, 1, 4, 3, 6
Doubles Results (Tennessee Tech)
1. No. 4 Pow/Tacchi (WFU) def. Dao/Bitzer (TTU) 6-2
2. Capalbo/Mazev (WFU) def. Alvarez/Burckhardt (TTU) 6-2
3. Xilas/Parichkov (WFU) vs. Spaks/Kuczynski (TTU) 3-3, unfinished
Order of finish: 2, 1
How It Happened (ETSU)
- In doubles, courts one and three remained on-serve early as Xilas/Capalbo jumped out to a 5-2 lead on court two.
- The Deacs took court two, 6-3.
- Both Wake Forest pairs on courts one and three were serving for the match simultaneously, but Tacchi/Pow earned the 6-4 victory first as court three went unfinished.
- Wake Forest jumped out to dominant leads early on in singles, highlighted by a 6-0 first-set victory for newcomer Guilleme on court four.
- Tacchi (6-1) and Pow (6-0) shortly followed with first-set wins on courts two and three, respectively.
- For the second-consecutive match, Wake Forest took the first set on all six courts as Xilas (6-4), Capalbo (6-2) and Shalmi (6-3) all earned the advantage.
- Guilleme was the first Demon Deacon to claim victory in singles as he picked up a dominant 6-0, 6-2 victory on court four for his first ever dual match win.
- The match was clinched a few minutes later as Capalbo (6-2, 6-0) and Xilas (6-2, 6-2) claimed fifth and first singles, respectively as they both improved to 2-0 on the year.
- Freshman Shalmi grabbed his first-ever dual match win on court six, 6-2, 6-2.
- Tacchi improved to 2-0 as well due to a medical retirement on court two.
- On court three, Pow finished the perfect Sunday with a tiebreaker victory and extended his dual-match win streak to 21.
Singles Results (ETSU)
1. No. 115 Ioannis Xilas (WFU) def. Peter Kalocsai (ETSU) 6-4, 6-2
2. Luciano Tacchi (WFU) def. Martin Garcia-Ripoll (ETSU) 6-1, 3-6, 1-1, retirement
3. Luca Pow (WFU) def. Pedro Cressoni (ETSU) 6-0, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5)
4. Joaquin Guilleme (WFU) def. Francisco Lamas (ETSU) 6-0, 6-2
5. Franco Capalbo (WFU) def. Juan Andres Listo (ETSU) 6-2, 6-0
6. Cornelius Shalmi (WFU) def. Carlos Gonzalez (ETSU) 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 4, 5, 1, 6, 2, 3
Doubles Results (ETSU)
1. No. 4 Pow/Tacchi (WFU) def. Kalocsai/Garcia-Ripoll (ETSU) 6-4
2. Capalbo/Xilas (WFU) def. Lamas/Listo (ETSU) 6-3
3. Shalmi/Mazev (WFU) vs. Sim/Cressoni (ETSU) 5-4, unfinished
Order of finish: 2, 1
From Coach Bresky
"Great start to the season. The boys were ready, prepared and excited. It's always fun playing at home in front of our fans. I thought we did a really good job and we're still missing a few guys in the lineup. We're excited to get two wins to start the season and now we're off to play Baylor on Friday and that should be a really tough match." - Head coach Tony Bresky
Next Up
The Demon Deacons will return to action Friday, Jan. 17, when they travel to face Baylor in Waco, Texas at 1 p.m.
Follow the Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,1
#1 Singles Match
12
Alex Alvarez / 0 [TTU]
11
66
#2 Singles Match
12
Murilo Burckhardt / 0 [TTU]
12
66
#3 Singles Match
12
Oliver Dao / 0 [TTU]
32
66
#4 Singles Match
12
Lucas Bitzer / 0 [TTU]
11
66
#5 Singles Match
12
Davids Spaks / 0 [TTU]
30
3WR
#6 Singles Match
12
Darek Kuczynski / 0 [TTU]
32
66
Order of Finish:
5,2,1,4,3,6
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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