Feb. 15, 2004
MINNEAPOLIS, MN-- The 42nd ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team dropped a hard fought, 4-3 match to #12 Virginia Commonwealth Saturday at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis. The Demon Deacons are now 2-3 on the season while VCU remains undefeated at an impressive 8-0.
At No. 1 doubles, Wake Forest's tandem of Derrick Spice and Brett Ross won their second match of the weekend with an 8-6 victory over VCU's Marquardt/LeCloerec team. But the Rams came out on top with the doubles point, winning the next two doubles matches and moving into singles play ahead 1-0.
At No. 1 singles, Spice dropped the first set to VCU's Arnaud LeCloerec, but picked up his game and won the final two sets, 6-2, 6-3. The Demon Deacons also got singles points from Joe Bates who won in straight sets over Francesc Lleal, and from Brett Ross who was involved in the tightest match of the day at No. 4. Ross jumped out to a quick lead, taking the first set 6-1 before losing the second set in a tiebreaker, 6-7(7). The third and final set was a back and forth battle with Ross coming out on top by a score of 10-6. But Wake's Andrew Hamar (No. 2), Todd Paul (No. 3) and Liron Strauss (No. 5) each fell in straight sets to their VCU opponents, allowing the Rams to squeak by with a narrow, 4-3 victory on the day.
Wake Forest returns to Winston-Salem for its first home match of the season on Wednesday afternoon. The Demon Deacons will host Old Dominion at 3 p.m. in a match which was originally scheduled to take place in Norfolk, Va. on Feb. 8.
#12 Virginia Commonwealth 4, #42 Wake Forest 3
Doubles
No. 1-- Spice/Ross (WFU) def. Marquardt/LeCloerec (VCU), 8-6
No. 2-- Ott/Nieto (VCU) def. Paul/Bates (WFU), 8-2
No. 3-- Lleal/Arumi (VCU) def. Simpson/Hamar (WFU), 8-6
Singles
No. 1-- Derrick Spice (WFU) def. Arnaud LeCloerec (VCU), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
No. 2-- Pedro Nieto (VCU) def. #77 Andrew Hamar (WFU), 6-4, 6-3
No. 3-- Marton Ott (VCU) def. Todd Paul (WFU), 6-1, 6-2
No. 4-- Brett Ross (WFU) def. Florian Marquardt (VCU), 6-1, 6-7(7), 10-6
No. 5-- Sergi Arumi (VCU) def. Liron Strauss (WFU), 6-2, 6-4
No. 6-- Joe Bates (WFU) def. Francesc Lleal (VCU), 6-3, 7-6(1)
