Collegiate Times

Tech junior Will Beck attempts a return against Virginia on Feb. 23.

The Virginia Tech men’s tennis team, ranked 20th in the nation, picked up a pair of 5-2 wins this weekend, downing No. 22 Florida State Friday and beating No. 49 Miami Sunday in the Burrows/Burleson Tennis Center.

The victory over Florida State was the first time that Tech (10-3, 4-1 ACC) has ever beaten the Seminoles during head coach Jim Thompson’s 12-year tenure with the program.

“They’ve got a great coach and a great program,” said Thompson. “We’ve just been catching up with them slowly but surely and we finally got them.”

“It’s really big. ... I mean, they’re a really good team,” added sophomore Corrado Tocci. “Florida State has a really good tradition.”

After losing the doubles point to a pair of nationally ranked Seminole doubles teams, the Hokies turned it around in singles.

Nationally ranked No. 51 Yoann Re picked up the biggest win for Tech by defeating No. 22 Jean-Yves Aubone 6-3, 4-2 (ret.).

“It was a great win for me because he was ranked high, so my ranking is going to go up,” Re said.

In addition, No. 67 Luka Somen prevailed 6-3, 6-2 against No. 48 Vahaid Mirzadeth.

These huge upsets along with victories by No. 107 Sebastian Jacques, Patrick Daciek and Will Beck propelled the Hokies to victory.

With momentum gained from the victory over Florida State, the Hokies came out strong on Sunday and quickly clinched the match against Miami.

After winning the doubles point, Beck, Tocci and Re coasted through their singles matches to give Tech a 4-0 lead, sealing the victory.

The remaining courts kept playing gritty tennis even though the match was already decided.

Jacques and Daciek went on to lose tough three-set matches while Somen squeaked out a 6-7 (5), 7-5, 1-0 (6) victory.

The Hokies will have little time to rest as they battle No. 24 Duke on Friday and No. 18 North Carolina on Sunday.

The weekend victories have the Hokies sitting in fourth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings with Duke (third) and North Carolina (second) just ahead of them.

“We got our work cut out for us,” Thompson said. “These next two are huge matches.”

A version of this article appeared in the Mar 31 issue of the Collegiate Times.