No. 37 Men's Tennis Edges No. 30 Virginia Tech, 4-3
April 8, 2007
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Sophomore Daniel Vallverdu (Valencia, Venezuela) battled back for the victory at No. 2 singles to clinch the 4-3 win for the 37th-ranked University of Miami men’s tennis team over No. 30 Virginia Tech on Sunday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
In Vallverdu’s first complete singles match after returning from injury, he rebounded from a 6-3 first-set loss to win the second set, 6-4. With the match riding on his shoulders, the sophomore came back from a 3-0 deficit in the third set, to win six straight points and push Miami to the 4-3 victory.
With the win in Miami’s regular-season home finale, the Hurricanes improved to 10-10 overall and 5-4 in the ACC, while the Hokies fell to 12-8 on the year and 4-5 in conference play.
“I’m extremely proud of the team,” said third-year Miami head coach Mario Rincon. “Virginia Tech is a very good team. Every player in the singles lineup competed the way we need them to, which is critical since each win in the ACC is so tough to get.”
The Hurricanes stormed out to the early 1-0 lead with dominating wins in the top-two doubles matches. The No. 2 doubles pair of Vallverdu and junior Vivek Subramanian (East Brunswick, N.J.) won their 12th match of the year and fourth in ACC play with an 8-1 victory.
In their final home match, Miami’s 8th-ranked No. 1 doubles tandem of seniors Luigi D’Agord (Freeport, Bahamas) and Josh Cohen (Weston, Fla./Laurel Springs) improved to 19-4 overall and 8-1 in the conference with an 8-3 win over Virginia Tech’s 28th-ranked pair of Pedro Graber and Nicolas Delgado. With that win, Cohen – a four-year letterwinner for the `Canes – moved to 80 career doubles victories, just one shy of the school record of 81 set by John Eagleton (1974-77) 30 years ago.
D’Agord pushed the Miami lead to 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles over Virginia Tech’s 41st-ranked senior Arvid Puranen. No. 20 D’Agord remains undefeated in ACC singles play over his two years with the Hurricanes, and improved to 21-3 overall and 9-0 in conference competition with his fourth-straight victory over a ranked opponent. He has the distinction of being the only No. 1 position player in the ACC to be undefeated.
In the No. 4 singles match, Subramanian rebounded from an early 5-2 deficit in the first set, to defeat Virginia Tech freshman Yoann Re, 7-5, 6-4, for his second-straight conference win. The junior improved to 16-10 overall and 5-4 in ACC play.
The Hokies then got on the scoreboard, with a straight sets victory by sophomore Brandon Corace in the No. 6 spot. With additional wins at the No. 3 and 5 positions, Virginia Tech knotted the score at 3-all with just the game-clinching No. 2 singles match remaining.
The University of Miami men’s tennis team closes out the regular season with a pair of matches on the road. The Hurricanes travel to Winston-Salem, N.C., for a match versus No. 11 Wake Forest on Friday, April 13, at 5 p.m. and then head to Raleigh, to face No. 20 NC State on Sunday, April 15, at 1 p.m.
No. 37 Miami 4, No. 30 Virginia Tech 3
Singles
1. No. 20 Luigi D’Agord (UM) def. No. 41 Arvid Puranen (VT) 6-2, 6-1
2. No. 55 Daniel Vallverdu (UM) def. Albert Larregola (VT) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
3. Nicolas Delgado (VT) def. Josh Cohen (UM) 7-6, 2-6, 6-0
4. Vivek Subramanian (UM) def. Yoann Re (VT), 7-5, 6-4
5. Pedro Graber (VT) def. J.C. Whitner (UM) 6-43, 3-6, 6-3
6. Brandon Corace (VT) def. Barnabas Carrega (UM) 6-3, 6-4
Order of Finish: 1, 4, 6, 3, 5, 2*
Doubles
1. No. 8 Luigi D’Agord/Josh Cohen (UM) def. No. 28 Pedro Graber/Nicolas Delgado (VT) 8-3
2. Vivek Subramanian/Daniel Vallverdu (UM) def. Albert Larregola/Alexei Sergeev (VT) 8-1
3. Brandon Corace/Arvid Puranen (VT) def. J.C. Whitner/Hector Nieto (UM) 8-5
Order of Finish: 2, 1*, 3
