ACC Men's Tennis Championship Central
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CARY, N.C. -
John Collins, Andy Magee and Jesse Kiuru were all victorious at both singles and doubles for the Maryland men's tennis team which picked up its first win at the ACC Championship in 22 years Thursday with a 4-2 triumph over Florida State.
Collins knocked off a nationally-ranked singles player and Kiuru's win at No. 5 singles clinched the match for the ninth-seeded Terrapins (12-11) who face top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Virginia in Friday's quarterfinal round.
But before facing the Cavaliers, the Terps can celebrate one of their biggest wins in school history.
Maryland's last victory at the ACC Championship occurred in 1989 when it defeated NC State, 4-3, in a consolation semifinal match en route to a fifth-place finish.
Thursday's win was also the Terps' first in an opening-round match at the ACCs since 1986 when they defeated Virginia, 5-4.
Maryland had never beaten Florida State since it entered the ACC. The Seminoles, who hold a 22-2 all-time lead in the series, last lost to the Terps in 1984.
"It was a total team effort," Maryland head coach Kyle Spencer said. "All that hard work paid off. The program is moving in the right direction and to knock off a team like Florida State at the ACC Championship is a fantastic accomplishment for the guys."
The Terps, who won for the fifth time this season over a ranked team, started strong and kept the pressure on the eighth-seeded Seminoles (9-14), who are also No. 44 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings.
Kiuru and Magee's 8-3 win over FSU's Andres Bucaro and Anderson Reed at No. 2 doubles clinched the first point of the match.
Collins and Maros Horny took down the 12th-ranked duo in the country as the Seminoles' Connor Smith and Vahid Mirzadeh fell by a score of 8-4 at No. 1 doubles.
After Florida State took a 2-1 lead by winning Nos. 1 and 4 singles, Collins evened the match at 2-all with a 7-5, 6-2 victory at the No. 2 position over Clint Bowles, who is ranked 99th nationally.
"Collins was a stud in singles and doubles today," Spencer said. "But Magee and Kiuru also played a huge role for us."
Magee's 7-5, 7-5 win over Bucaro at No. 6 singles gave the Terps a 3-2 lead and Kiuru closed it out with his 6-3, 7-5 victory over Reed.
"I'm so proud of our guys today," Spencer said. "They really stepped up in a big match."
Maryland has less than 24 hours to celebrate. The Terps and Cavaliers will face off at 9 a.m. Friday at the Cary Tennis Center.
Virginia (26-0), which was also ranked first in the nation at the time, downed Maryland, 7-0, on Feb. 4 in Charlottesville.
Check out @UMTerps for updates during the Maryland-Virginia match.
