Louisville Men's Tennis Surprises No. 30 Virginia Tech

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Louisville men's tennis team closed out the regular season with a 6-1 upset of No. 30 Virginia Tech Sunday at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.

The Cardinals notched the doubles point as Cody Conley and Octavian Nicodim combined to defeat Francis Huot and Saber Kadiri 8-4 at No. 1 and Paulo Carvalho and Sebastian Aspillaga teamed to beat Davor Dupljak and Michael Kurz 8-5 at the three-seed. Virginia Tech's Andreas Laulund and Stephane Rod got an 8-2 win over Matt Mayer and Brent McCombe at the two-spot.

In singles action, Conley had the only three-set match, edging No. 91 Kadiri 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at the top seed. Nicodim defeated Rod 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3 while Mayer topped Dupljak 6-4, 6-0 at the four-seed. Sivertsen won over Kurz 7-6, 6-4 at No. 5 and McCombe battled Grant Semon in a tiebreaker before winning 6-4, 7-6(7-3) at the six-spot. Huot posted Virginia Tech's only point with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Carvalho at No. 2.

"This Louisville team which has shown it can play among the top tennis programs finally showed up again today," said U of L head coach Rex Ecarma. "It's a good feeling to dominate No. 30 Virginia Tech and gain momentum heading into the Conference USA tournament. Each player took personal responsibility and chose not to leave the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center without a win today. We finally elevated our performance under pressure and won a big match."

Louisville (9-15) will serve as the host for the 2002 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship Presented by UofL Health Care. Competition will be held at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center and Seneca Park April 18-21. Information on pairings and match times will be available Monday afternoon on www.uoflsports.com and www.c-usasports.com.

Louisville vs No. 30 Virginia Tech
SINGLES
1 - Cody Conley (UL) d. Saber Kadiri (VT) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
2 - Francis Huot (VT) d. Paulo Carvalho (UL) 6-1, 6-1
3 - Octavian Nicodim (UL) d. Stephane Rod (VT) 6-4, 6-2
4 - Matt Mayer (UL) d. Davor Dupljak (VT) 6-4, 6-0
5 - Alex Sivertsen (UL) d. Michael Kurz (VT) 7-6, 6-4
6 - Brent McCombe (UL) d. Grant Semon (VT) 6-4, 7-6(7-3)
DOUBLES
1 - Conley/Nicodim (UL) d. Huot/Kadiri (VT) 8-4
2 - Laulund/Rod (VT) d. Mayer/McCombe (UL) 8-2
3 - Carvalho/Aspillaga (UL) d. Dupljak/Kurz (VT) 8-5