Tech entered the final match of the weekend with momentum, spawning from a dramatic 4-3 win over Notre Dame two days prior. That energy would carry into doubles play, as the Hokies earned their first doubles point in ACC play. Louisville earned the first win on court three, as Alex Ix and Michael Shepheard fell to Etienne Donnet and Kosuke Nakanishi, with Donnet being on half of Louisville’s ninth ranked doubles pairing. On court one, the No. 80 duo of Ryan Fishback and Maxime St. Hilaire would defeat Natan Rodrigues and Enrique Peña, where Rodrigues was the other half of that top ranked pairing that was split for today’s match. Matt Harper and Alberto Orso clinched the point for Tech on court two with a 6-3 victory.
Maxime St. Hilaire would have a rough performance, falling first on court two to Natan Rodrigues, 3-6, 1-6. The Hokies would get back on top in the match with Hugo Maia’s second win of the weekend, this time by scores of 6-2 and 6-4 over Kosuke Nakanishi.
The Cardinals battled back into the lead, securing victories on courts six and three, where Alberto Orso and Michael Shepheard fell, respectively. Orso dropped a two-set match to Miguel Avendaño, while Shepheard failed to secure a win in three sets against Andre’ Steinbach. Virginia Tech would go on to tie the match at three points apiece with a bounce-back performance from Benjamin Pomeranets, winning 7-5, 6-4 against Enrique Peña.
The final point would come down to the only ranked matchup of the afternoon, where No. 60 Ryan Fishback faced of against No. 33 Etienne Donnet. The two would each take a set, Donnet winning the first 7-6 (7-2), and Fishback storming back with a 6-3 second-set victory. Fishback would then fall in the deciding set, 2-6, clincing the singles victory for Donnet, and the match victory for Louisville.
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Tech looks to bounce back from this loss with a road trip to the Sunshine State, where they’ll play Florida State this coming Friday, followed by a matchup with the Miami Hurricanes on Sunday.
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