Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech senior Joao Monteiro has been named to the NCAA Singles Championships and will enter the field seeded in the top-16, earning All-American honors. Monteiro will also pair up with teammate Andreas Bjerrehus in the doubles competition.
Monteiro becomes the Hokies third All-American and the first since Aaron Marchetti earned the honor in 1999. Oliver Mayo is Tech’s other All-American, earning it in 1996. This marks the ninth consecutive season the Hokies have had a representative in the singles field.
“I’m really proud of Joao and Andreas,” head coach Jim Thompson said. “For Joao to come in as a good freshman and to see how great of a player he has become as a senior is a real testament to his hard work and dedication. For him to be our third All-American in program history is just outstanding. Andreas has also been a great player for us the past four years and we will miss both of them. They both put in tons of hours with former assistant Stephen Huss and with Martin Sayer this year and to be rewarded with bids to the NCAA is amazing and shows how hard they have worked to get here.”
The Tech senior has had a solid final season with the Hokies that began in the fall when Monteiro took the title at the ITA Atlantic Regional to earn a trip to the Indoor Nationals where he became the first Tech player to advance to the semifinals. He continued his strong play into duals, tallying a 15-6 mark in the No. 1 this spring and has been ranked in the top-25 all season.
Monteiro will pair up with his teammate and fellow senior Bjerrehus in the NCAA doubles competition as well. The pair has also been ranked in the top-25 all spring and as high as seventh with a record of 11-4 at the one. They become the first Tech duo to make the field since Nicolas Delgado and Pedro Graber in 2007.
The last time the Hokies had players representing in both the singles and doubles field was in 1999. Aaron and Adam Marchetti competed in both events for Tech.
The singles and doubles competition will take place May 25-30 at the Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.