Feb. 18, 2012

Results

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Senior Maros Horny earned victories in singles and doubles and junior Jesse Kiuru won his third consecutive match as the 41st-ranked Maryland men's tennis team (3-4) defeated 40th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth, 5-2, Saturday afternoon at the Tennis Center at College Park.

"Really tough win today for the guys," said head coach Kyle Spencer. "I'm proud of how we fought. This is a good win as VCU will be top-35 team this year. We are beginning to show the fruits of our labor from the practice court. We need to continue to get better."

Horny and doubles' partner junior John Collins, who are ranked 21st, trailed 5-2 early in their matchup with VCU's Alexis Heugas and Antoine Baroz. But the Terrapin duo rallied to cut the Rams' lead to 7-6, and proceeded to win the next three games to clinch the doubles point for the Terps. In singles, Horny battled to win both sets in a tiebreaker for his third singles win of the dual season.

"Maros was the MVP today," Spencer said. "I felt like he did a great job bringing us back in doubles. In singles, he finished off two tough sets by playing authoritative tiebreaks."

Freshman Vlad Stefan picked up two victories Saturday afternoon as well. Stefan paired with junior Tommy Laine for an 8-4 victory at No. 2, while in singles, Stefan dispatched of Baroz in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1.

Following VCU wins at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, Laine rebounded from dropping a tiebreaker in the second set to cruise 6-1 in the third set and clinch the match for the Terps.

After dropping the opening set against Jaime Vazquez, Kiuru won a second-set tiebreaker and edged out Vazquez, 10-8, in the third set. It is Kiuru's third singles win in a row.

Maryland opens its ACC slate against No. 31 Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., on Friday, Feb. 24 at 2:30 p.m.

-Terps-