Collegiate Times

A freight train of brute force rolled in from Tobacco Road this weekend, as Atlantic Coast Conference foes No. 9 Duke and No. 13 North Carolina each ripped off 6-1 victories against the Virginia Tech women's tennis team at Burleson/Burrows Tennis Center.

"We need to maintain a high level of tennis for a longer duration of time in order to beat top ten teams," said Tech head coach Terry Ann Zawacki-Woods. "After some close first sets, we seemed to run out of gas mentally and our opponents did not."

The losses drop host Virginia Tech to 14-2 overall and 2-9 in the ACC, concluding the Hokies' regular season on a five-game losing streak.

Duke (15-3, 8-2) arrived in Blacksburg first, dueling the Hokies on Saturday. Tech fell behind early, dropping the doubles point and each of the top five singles match points.

The Hokies lead each of the six singles matches simultaneously early on, but were unable to close out their unrelenting opposition.

"We definitely had our chances in some of those matches," Zawacki-Woods said. "We need to maintain our focus for all parts of the match and cut down on some of these unforced errors out there."

Holly Johnson eventually provided Tech's only tangible scoring of the afternoon at No. 6 singles, defeating Duke's Tory Zawacki, the sister of Tech coach Zawacki-Woods, 6-1, 6-4.

Johnson and Inga Beerman would team up to win their match at No. 2 doubles, but the Hokies dropped the other two matches in doubles play, and subsequently the doubles point to fall behind before singles play began.

Beerman would fall 7-5, 6-0 in the No.1 singles match to Tara Iyer, while Yasmin Hamza fell in three sets to Ellah Nze at No. 2.

At No. 3 singles, Jessica Long lost 6-2, 6-2 to Duke's Reka Zsilinszka J.J. Larson lost 7-6, 7-5 to Melissa Mang at No. 4, and Jessica Brouwer fell 6-3, 6-0 to Amamda Granson at No. 5 singles.

The Hokies would attempt to recharge and rebound after honoring seniors Bethan James, Larson, and Long before Sunday's 9 a.m. bout with North Carolina (16-7, 7-3), but instead experienced dj vu in another 6-1 loss.

The Hokies would once again notch a win at doubles -- this time with Long and Hamza at No. 3 -- but failed in the other two matches for a second consecutive time, surrendering the doubles point.

Tech's bright spot came courtesy of Brouwer in the No. 5 singles match, who pulled out a grueling three-set comeback victory over Sophie Grabinski (2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (6)).

Brouwer noticed her teammates were struggling on the courts alongside, and knew that a victory would be crucial

"I felt I just had to fight back and get a point for our team," Brouwer said.

Her coach appreciated it.

"She played tremendously out there," Zawacki-Woods said, "She's been someone that's been working so hard, and we've seen very good improvement. For her to pull out a tight third set after losing the first set, it was definitely a positive spot for our program."

The Hokies would lose the rest of their singles matches, as Tech players lost in straight sets in every match except for Long who fell in a 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (8) decision to UNC's Austin Smith at No. 3.

Tech's players and coaches felt that facing some of the nation's best competition back-to-back goes a long way in preparing the team for one of the college tennis' most arduous trials of attrition -- the ACC tournament.

The Hokies are seeded No. 10 in this weekend's conference tournament and will take on No. 7 seeded University of Virginia on Thursday. In their lone meeting of the season, the Cavaliers pulled out a 4-3 victory in Blacksburg.

"It was good for us because we saw some of the best tennis in the nation right there," Larson said. "We'll be prepared and won't be underestimating anyone, that's for sure."