The Demon Deacons have a number of activities planned for their match against Tennessee on Sunday at noon
Feb. 9, 2013
By Alex Botoman, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeTennis)
Off to an 8-1 start to the season, the 36th-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team will host No. 14 Tennessee and Elon on Sunday at the Indoor Tennis Center. The Demon Deacons will face the Volunteers at noon and the Phoenix at 6 p.m.
The first 100 fans at the Tennessee match will receive a t-shirt, and there will be complimentary food available to all fans. The Spirit of the Old Gold and Black marching band as well as the Demon Deacon mascot will be in attendance.
Deacons Off to Best Start Since 2007
Wake Forest holds an 8-1 record through its first eight matches, good for its best start since 2007. In their most recent match, the Demon Deacons posted their first road victory, downing No. 49 South Carolina 5-2 in Columbia, S.C. Friday.
The Demon Deacons won a tight doubles point with victories at the top two positions, and received singles wins from Amogh Prabhakar at No. 2, Danny Kreyman at No. 3, Adam Lee at No. 5 and Sam Bloom at No. 6.
Prabhakar's Winning Streak Hits Double Digits
Senior Amogh Prabhakar downed South Carolina's Chip Cox Friday to stretch his singles winning streak to 10 matches. Prabhakar, who is ranked No. 59 nationally, is 8-0 in the dual match season, playing primarily at the No. 2 position and has not lost since Jan. 12 at the Wake Forest Spring Invitational preseason tournament.
Prabhakar's 10-match winning streak is the longest for a Demon Deacon since 2009, when Wake Forest all-time wins leader Cory Parr earned 10 consecutive victories at No. 1 singles.
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.
Record Watch Danny Kreyman beat South Carolina's Andrew Adams on Friday for the 95th singles win of his career, which moved him into a tie for seventh place in Wake Forest history. Next up on the school charts for Kreyman is current assistant coach Brett Ross, who won 97 matches at Wake Forest from 2002-06.
David Hopkins won at South Carolina in doubles to push his career total to 84 doubles wins. He is tied for sixth place in school history.
A Look at Tennessee
Always one of the top teams in college tennis, Tennessee enters Sunday's match ranked No. 14 nationally. The Volunteers have started the season 10-1, suffering their first loss of the year on Friday at the hands of No. 9 Duke in Durham.
Sophomore Mikelis Libietis leads the Volunteers at No. 1 singles and is ranked No. 9 nationally. Redshirt sophomore Hunter Reese also holds a national singles ranking, coming in at No. 40.
The Vols boast a trio of ranked doubles teams. Libietis and Maryland-transfer John Colins are ranked No. 14, Edward Jones and Jarryd Chaplin are ranked No. 21 and Libietis and Chaplin come in at No. 26 in the national charts.
A Look at Elon
Elon sits at 1-2 to start the year, beating Campbell and falling to Duke and NC State. The Phoenix battled the Wolfpack in Raleigh on Friday, winning the doubles point and fighting in singles to tie the match 3-3 before Robert Lindgren fell in three sets at the No. 3 position to give NC State the win.
Cameron Silverman, who plays No. 1 singles for the Phoenix, is ranked No. 21 nationally. Elon's top doubles team of Silverman and Stefan Fortmann holds the No. 22 spot in the national rankings.
