Feb. 25, 2004

Results

BLACKSBURG, VA.-- #50 Virginia Tech rallied from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the 48th-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team Wednesday at the Burrows/Burleson Tennis Center in Blacksburg, Va. The Deacs are now 4-4 on the season and the Hokies snapped a two-match losing streak, improving to 5-4.

The outcome of the match came down to the final singles contest between each team's top player in the No. 1 slot. With the teams even at three matches apiece, Wake Forest's 35th-ranked Derrick Spice gained the early advantage over Virginia Tech's Andreas Lauland, taking the first set 6-3. But Lauland stormed back to even things up with a 6-3 win in the second set. The two players went back and forth, trading games throughout the third and deciding set and found themselves tied at 6-6, forcing a tiebreaker. Unfortunately for Wake Forest, Lauland took control and finished off Spice and the Deacs by a score of 7-3 in the tiebreaker.

The Deacs jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage after sweeping all three doubles matches to begin the day. Spice and Brett Ross teamed up at No. 1 and took an 8-6 win over Virginia Tech's Laulund and Soren Spanner. Wake's Andrew Simpson and David Loewenthal followed with an 8-4 victory at No. 3 over Brent Wilkins and Arvid Puranen.

Wake Forest was within one win of finishing off the Hokies after Loewenthal (No. 6) and Todd Paul (No.2) won their singles matches in straight-sets. But Ross (No. 4), Andrew Hamar (No. 3) and finally Spice, each fell to their Virginia Tech opponents in hard-fought, three-set matches as the Hokies stormed back for the 4-3 victory.

The Demon Deacons return home for their first ACC matchup of the season against Georgia Tech on Sunday at 1 p.m.