Hurricanes Come Up Short Against Virginia Tech
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team faced a narrow 4-3 defeat to the Virginia Tech Hokies Friday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
No. 28 Miami jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the match after winning the doubles point and a pair of matches on first and second singles, but the momentum came to a halt when redshirt senior Benjamin Hannestad was forced to retire by default after a disqualification.
From there, Virginia Tech rattled off two straight victories on courts five and six to tie the match at three-all. With the contest on the line, it all came down to court three where fourth-year junior Franco Aubone battled Virginia Tech’s Scott Sculley in a three-set thriller.
Aubone and Sculley went game-for-game in the final set, but Sculley ultimately pulled away in the final games to take a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory to clinch the match for Virginia Tech.
Graduate student Dan Martin recorded his 21st singles win of the season on Friday, taking down Virginia Tech’s Ryan Fishback, 6-1, 6-4, on court one.
Fifth-year senior Bojan Jankulovski recorded Miami’s only other singles win with a 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Hugo Maia at second singles. Jankulovski ranks second on the team in singles wins behind Martin with 16 on the season.
In doubles, the second doubles duo of Hannestad and freshman Martin Katz defeated Matt Harper and Sculley, 6-3, while Jankulovski and Martin downed Carlo Donato and Michael Shepheard, 6-1.
Miami returns to the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on Sunday when it hosts the No. 8 Virginia Cavaliers for Senior Day. The Hurricanes will honor four players – Aubone, Hannestad, Jankulovski and Oren Vasser – ahead of the match.
Fans are encouraged to arrive early on Sunday as the first 75 fans will receive free pizza and a raffle ticket for adidas swag. Raffle tickets may be picked up at the entrance to the Neil Schiff Tennis Center and prizes will be available for pick up after all singles first sets have been completed (approximately two hours after the match begins).
