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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida State men’s tennis freshmen Alex Bulte and Youcef Rihane were named ACC Men’s Doubles Team of the Week after a perfect weekend against Virginia and Virginia Tech. It is the first ACC honor for both players and the first doubles award for FSU this season.
The duo won on court three in both matches, helping Florida State earn the doubles point both days. Bulte and Rihane swept the doubles pair from No. 8 Virginia 6-0 and took down Virginia Tech 6-1 for a dominating weekend. Friday’s match was only the second time Virginia lost the doubles point to an ACC opponent this season.
“I’m really pleased that Alex and Youcef won the ACC Doubles Team of the Week,” head coach Dwayne Hultquist said. “They’re really improved, and I think it comes back to how hard they’ve been working at practice. They won in dominant fashion this weekend over some very good teams.”
Bulte and Rihane are now 6-2 overall, 4-2 in the ACC, and on a three-match winning streak dating back to the match against Boston College. Previously this season, the duo claimed a doubles victory on the road at No. 47 Louisville.
Both players are international student-athletes in their first year at Florida State. Bulte, originally from Melbourne, Australia, entered the collegiate level as the No. 1 junior in Australia and the 144th-ranked player by the ITF.
Rihane, a native of Algiers, Algeria, has been a member of the Algerian Davis Cup team for the past two years. When he started at FSU, Rihane was the No. 4 junior men’s tennis player in Africa and No. 51 in the junior world ITF rankings.
Aside from doubles, Rihane has also been excelling at singles with a 13-5 overall record this spring, going 5-3 in the conference. He currently leads the team in singles wins.
Bulte and Rihane join teammate Loris Pourroy on the list of Seminoles with ACC honors this season. Pourroy won ACC Men’s Player of the Week back-to-back weeks in February.
Florida State concludes regular season play this week with two away matches at Clemson Thursday at 5 p.m. and at Georgia Tech Saturday at 12 p.m.
For more information on the Seminole Men’s Tennis program, check Seminoles.com and follow us on social media at FSUMTennis (IG) and @FSU_MTennis (TW).
