TEMPE, Ariz. – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released its NCAA Division I Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll Wednesday morning with the Wake Forest men’s tennis team coming in at No. 14 nationally.
Wednesday’s ranking marks the sixth-consecutive season that Wake Forest has been ranked within the top-15 of the ITA preseason ledger.
The 14th-ranked Demon Deacons will kick off spring action by hosting a Universal Tennis (UTR) event from Jan. 8-15, before officially starting the 2023 season the following day with a double-header against Tennessee Tech and Elon at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.
This season, Wake Forest returns nine Demon Deacons from a season ago, including 2022 All-ACC second team honoree Melios Efstathiou and 2022 All-ACC third team selections Jurabek Karimov and Filippo Moroni.
Efstathiou, a product of Limassol, Cyprus, logged a 16-7 dual singles record last spring. He has collected a total of 76-career singles wins. Efstathiou posted a stellar 13-5 (5-1 ACC) record at No. 2 and 3 singles last season, including a 3-2 record at the No. 1 position. Overall, Efstathiou is 76-31 in singles action since joining the Deacs.
In his first season in Winston-Salem, Karimov’s road to third-team All-ACC a season ago included a 6-12 (2-3 ACC) dual singles record. The Tashkent, Uzbekistan logged three ranked wins. In doubles competition, Karimov has posted a 6-2 (4-1 ACC) mark in dual matches.
Moroni posted an 11-3 mark in dual matches and reached the NCAA Singles Championships Round of 32 during the 2022 campaign. Of note, Moroni earned two ranked wins and clinched four matches with the Demon Deacons last season.
Sustained Success
Wake Forest has made the NCAA Tournament in each of the past nine seasons, including the 2018 season in which the Demon Deacons won the program’s first ever NCAA Championship.
Since head coach Tony Bresky took over the program in 2012, the Deacs have accumulated 31 All-ACC honors. Of note, five Demon Deacons earned All-ACC honors last season, marking the most in a single season in program history.
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