Vahaly Advances To Third Round Of NCAA Singles Championship

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May 25, 2000

ATHENS, Ga. – University of Virginia rising fourth-year tennis player Brian Vahaly (Atlanta, Ga./The Lovett School) defeated 34th-ranked Ramsey Smith of Duke 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round of the NCAA Men’s Singles Championship Thursday morning, May 25, at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the campus of the University of Georgia. Vahaly, the second seed in the tournament and the fourth rated player in the WingspanBank.com rankings, advances to the third round for the first time in three NCAA singles appearances.

After nearly being eliminated from the tournament by LSU’s Tom Hand in the first round Wednesday, Vahaly won the first set against Smith 6-2. Smith came back to tie the match at one set apiece with a 6-4 victory in the second set, but Vahaly won the match by taking the third set 6-3.

Vahaly, the 2000 ACC Player of the Year, will play 51st-ranked Guillermo Carter of Oregon in the third round Friday morning. Carter advanced to the third round with a 7-6, 6-3 upset victory over Georgia’s 12th-ranked Matias Boeker. The quarterfinals will be also played on Friday.

As a first-year in 1998, Vahaly lost in the first round of the NCAA singles tournament. Last year, he advanced to the second round before being eliminated.

Vahaly will team with rising fourth-year Huntley Montgomery (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) in the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship. The 26th-ranked tandem will play the number two seed, Stanford’s Geoff Abrams and Alex Kim, in the first round on Thursday at 5:00 p.m.