No. 36 Deacons Travel to No. 49 South Carolina
Feb. 7, 2013
The 36th-ranked men's tennis team search for its first road victory of the season Friday as it travels to No. 49 South Carolina. The match will start at 4 p.m. in Columbia, S.C.
Deacons Keep Rolling
Wake Forest sits at 7-1 through its first eight matches of the season after defeating No. 41 Louisville last week before falling on the road at No. 20 Michigan. The Demon Deacons are 4-1 against nationally ranked opponents this year.
The Deacons are off to their best start since 2007 when they started the year 14-1. That Wake Forest squad finished with a 27-6 record and reached the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 for the first time in program history.
Rocketing Up the Rankings
Wake Forest took another big jump in the ITA National Rankings this week, moving up 13 spots to No. 36 in the country. The Demon Deacons have vaulted up the rankings in the early season, improving 30 spots from their preseason ranking of No. 66. The next-biggest jump for a team is 11 spots, achieved by Texas A&M (26 to 15), Miami (65 to 54) and Princeton (75 to 64).
This is the final week that the preseason individual rankings will be used before new individual rankings are released next week. Senior Amogh Prabhakar is ranked No. 59 nationally, and fellow senior Danny Kreyman is ranked No. 90.
Prabhakar Still Streaking
Amogh Prabhakar topped Michigan's 48th-ranked Vlad Stefan last weekend to extend his singles winning streak to nine matches. The win over Stefan was the first top-50 victory of his career, though the Bangalore, India native is now 4-2 against ranked opponents this season.
Prabhakar has started the dual match season 7-0, playing mostly at the No. 2 position, and is the only lineup regular without a dual-match singles loss yet this season. Last year he led the Demon Deacons with a 21-6 record in dual matches while playing primarily at No. 3.
Record Watch
Danny Kreyman picked up the 94th singles win of his career last weekend against Louisville's Chris Simich and currently sits in eighth place on Wake Forest's all-time single chart. He is one win behind tying
Mike Murray (2000-03) for seventh place.
David Hopkins' 83 career doubles wins rank seventh in school history. He is one win away from tying Todd Paul (2003-07) for sixth place.
A Look at South Carolina
South Carolina holds a 6-2 record in the early season and is ranked No. 49 in the country. In their most recent matches, the Gamecocks beat Georgia Tech 6-1 and Wofford 4-0.
Last season, Wake Forest suffered a tough 4-3 loss at home to South Carolina in a result that was decided by third-set tiebreak in the last match on court. The Gamecocks won the doubles point and went on to take a 3-1 lead, but the Deacons fought back to tie the match at 3-3 through wins by David Hopkins and Amogh Prabhakar. But in the deciding No. 6 match, South Carolina's Thiago Pinheiro edged out Alex Tsai 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2) to give the Gamecocks the win.
Pack the Tennis Center Sunday vs. Tennessee
Wake Forest hosts No. 14 Tennessee on Sunday at noon, and the Deacons are counting on you to make the Indoor Tennis Center a hostile environment for the Volunteers.
The first 100 fans in attendance will get free t-shirts, and complimentary food will be provided by Red Hot and Blue and Domino's Pizza. The Spirit of the Old Gold and Black marching band will be in attendance, along with the Demon Deacon and cheerleaders.
Come be a part of one of the best atmospheres in Wake Forest tennis history as the Deacons try to beat the Vols.
