April 18, 2012

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ACC Championship Central | ACC Men's Tennis Release

CARY, N.C. - The 59th-ranked Maryland men's tennis team travels to Cary Tennis Park to compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Tennis Championship beginning Thursday. The Terps are the ninth seed and begin the four-day tournament against eight-seeded Georgia Tech at 9 a.m.

The Terps
The Yellow Jackets defeated the Terps (7-14, 4-7 ACC), 4-3, in Atlanta during the regular season. But Maryland enters the tournament winners of three of its last four matches against ranked opponents including its first victory over 18th-ranked North Carolina in 22 years.

Freshman Vlad Stefan is playing some of his best tennis of the season and re-entered the ITA Rankings this week at No. 88. Stefan defeated 36th-ranked Chris Mengel of Duke and 81st-ranked Brennan Boyajian of North Carolina last week earning him ACC Co-Player of the Week honors. Stefan is 6-4 in his last 10 matches and is 5-4 against nationally ranked opponents this spring.

Also playing strong of late, junior Tommy Laine is 7-3 in his last 10 matches and has won 6 of 7. During that stretch, Laine secured vital victories against No. 18 North Carolina, No. 38 NC State and No. 69 Miami in winning efforts for the Terps.

Doubles has been a strong point for the Terps this season. As a team, Maryland is 43-19 and 23-10 in ACC duals. Senior Maros Horny and junior John Collins are ranked 23rd entering the tournament. The tandem is 22-11 this year and 14-7 in dual action. Against ranked opponents, Horny and Collins are 6-2 this spring and handed second-ranked Kevin King and Juan Spir of Georgia Tech their only conference loss.

Stefan and Laine have quietly become an imposing combination. Since becoming playing partners in the middle of the season, the duo is 13-3 and has won 9 of 10.

Maryland at the ACC Championships
In 2011, the Terps defeated Florida State in the opening round for the squad's first ACC Tournament victory since 1989. Maryland fell to national runner-up Virginia in the quarterfinals.

Maryland and Georgia Tech have met twice in the ACC Tournament. The Yellow Jackets have won both meetings most recently in 2005.

Should the Terps advance, they will face top-seeded Virginia. The Terps are 1-4 all-time against the Cavaliers at the ACC Championship. The Terps lone victory came in the first round in 1986.

Prior to the ACC Tournament, Maryland won two conference titles in 1957 and 1964. In the tournament era, the Terps have placed second four times (1975, 1984-86).

In 1984, Inaki Calvo became the only Terrapin to win ACC Tournament MVP honors.

Live Coverage
Live scoring updates will be available through the TheACC.com, as well as a tape-delay webcast starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

On Twitter, follow @theaccchamps for live updates.

- Terps -