The No. 23 ranked men’s tennis team earned its fourth consecutive team appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The field of 64 teams was announced yesterday evening with the Hokies set to take on No. 38 Vanderbilt in their opening match.
“They’re a very good team — we haven’t played them in a couple of years but it’s going to be a good match,” said head coach Jim Thompson.
The Commodores have been inconsistent toward the end of the season, including getting shutout 7-0 to Kentucky and 4-0 to Mississippi State in the past two contests.
The match will be played on the campus of regional host University of Louisville. If the Hokies were to advance past Vanderbilt, they would face the winner of the Eastern Kentucky and No. 15 Louisville match.
The Hokies will look to advance further than they did in the tournament last season. In 2009, they lost 4-1 in the second round to Georgia after getting past UNC Wilmington 4-2 in the opener.
Tech played at Louisville earlier in the season, falling 5-2 to the Cardinals on March 10. Despite the earlier loss, the Hokies don’t appear to be phased at this likely rematch.
“We lost to them but I don’t think we should worry about changing our game plan a lot,” said junior Sebastian Jacques. “I think we need to be more focused for this match and I’m sure we will be since it would be for a chance to go to the Sweet 16.”
The previous match was played indoors, which usually favors the home team. However, with the warmer weather this one will likely be played outside, leveling the playing field.
In addition, the Hokies must start out strong to have a shot at redemption.
“We’re going to have to win doubles. It was really tough to come back last time after losing doubles,” said senior Yoann Re.
While the singles and doubles draws for the NCAA Tournament will not officially be announced until later today, Thompson learned that Re made the singles tournament for the second consecutive year.
“I think he can win the whole thing if he plays up to his potential,” said Thompson. “It’s hard because there are a lot of good players in the tournament and it takes the right kind of draw. But if he gets into it and plays well there is not anyone he can’t beat.”
Re lost 6-3, 6-0 in the first round last year to Dennis Nevolo from Illinois, but has greatly improved his game since then.
Re currently sits at No. 55 in the nation, but was ranked as high as No. 38 before a five-match skid that ended with a 6-1, 6-0 singles victory over Derek DiFazio from Clemson on April 17.
“I have to keep the momentum. I am playing a lot better than I was on my losing streak,” said Re. “Last year I was a little bit nervous for the [NCAA Tournament] match. I’m going to try and be more relaxed.”
Re believes winning his first two matches to make the Sweet 16 is a realistic goal. Anything more will be extremely difficult, but as Thompson said, is certainly possible.
Although Re found his way into the 64-player field, second singles player Luka Somen narrowly missed receiving a bid. Somen is currently ranked No. 73 nationally and was the 2009 ACC Freshman of the Year.
“He’s really close too, but he is only a sophomore. He can set his goals for making it the next two years, just like Yoann has done. He will get all the opportunities in the world playing No. 1 for us likely,” said Thompson.
The NCAA singles tournament will begin on May 26, after the team tournament is completed.