BLACKSBURG – Six players on the Virginia Tech men's tennis team will be competing in the ITA Men's All-American Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla., which will run from Sept. 30-Oct. 8.
Ryan Fishback, who was ranked No. 19 in the ITA's preseason rankings, will compete in the singles main draw beginning on Wednesday, Oct. 4. The Geneva, N.Y. native enters his senior year with the Hokies coming off a second team All-ACC spring season. Last October, Fishback and Jordan Chrysostom claimed the doubles consolation title at the ITA National Fall Championship.
Singles play will open on Saturday with the pre-qualifying rounds that will include freshman Maxime St. Hillaire (1 p.m.), juniors Frank Thompson (11:45 a.m.), Alberto Orso (10:45 a.m., and Manuel Goncalves (1 p.m.), redshirt junior Alex Ix (12 p.m.) and seniors Michael Shepeard (9:45 a.m.) and Hugo Maia (9:15 a.m.). If they advance, they move into the qualifying rounds on Monday.
Doubles will begin with qualifying rounds on Monday including Hokie pair Ryan Fishback and Alberto Orso, ranked No. 28. If they advance, they move main draw doubles, which begin on Oct. 4.
Update: Tuesday, October 3rd
Maia advanced through two rounds of pre-qualifing defeating Kennesaw State's Harvey Conway 4-6, 7-6(10), 6-2 and LSU Ben Koch 6-3,6-1 before falling in the third round to MTSU's Leo Raquin 3-6, 2-6.
Orso would take a similar route and advance through two rounds of pre-qualifing defeating NIU's Christopher Norlin 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 and UCLA's Emon Van Loben Sels 5-7, 6-0, 6-0 before falling to Liberty's Rafael Marques Da Silva 6-2, 6-2.
Ix would win his first round match against UNO's Ethan Gaubert 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, before falling to Pepperdine's Linus Carlsson Halldin 1-6,0-6.
Goncalves, Shepheard, and Thompson dropped their first round matches.
Update: Wednesday, October 4th
Fishback is set to play his first round singles main draw match today against Tulsa's No.67 Rollins at 11 a.m... Fishback and Orso are scheduled to start their main draw doubles competition today against Auburn's Dobai/Moreno at 3 p.m...
In his first match of singles main draw Fishback would take down Tulsa's No. 67 Rollins in a tight 7-5, 7-6(4) battle... He will face MSU's No. 25 Ozan Baris in round 2... In their previous meeting Fishback took down Baris 6-2, 6-3...
In doubles Fishback and partner Orso were scheduled to play Auburn in the first round but with a withdraw the two would face and defeat ETSU's Badra/Lamas 6-2, 6-2... They will face Duke's No.10 Zhang/Heller...
Update: Thursday October 5th
Almost a week into ITA All-American Championships the Hokies run comes to an end... With an impressive first round win Fishback would come up short against MSU's Ozan Baris 2-6, 1-6 in the second round of main draw....
With a commanding first round doubles win against ETSU's Badra/Lamas, Fishback and Orso would face Duke's No.10 Zhang/Heller... The two would fall in the second round of doubles in a tight 6-7(7), 5-7 battle which would end the run for the Hokies...
Next up for the Hokies...
ITA Regional Championships (Lynchburg, VA.) Oct 11 (Wed) - Oct (Mon)
Virginia Tech Halloween Tournament (Blacksburg, Va.) Oct 27 (Fri) - Oct 29 (Sun)
