W&M Men's Tennis Falls to #26 Louisville, 5-2

Tribe’s Jeff Kader Upsets No. 54 Damar Johnson in Singles

03/26/05 5:03PM

WILLIAMSBURG, VA - William and Mary’s men’s tennis team lost to No. 26 Louisville, 5-2, this afternoon at the College’s Busch Tennis Courts.

The loss drops W&M’s record to 4-13 this season, while the Cardinals improve to 15-8 on the year with the win.

W&M opened the contest by winning the first completed doubles match, with senior Jeff Kader (Geneva, OH) and freshman Alex Cojanu (Hallandale, FL) defeating Damar Johnson and Mark Kennedy, 9-8 (1), at No. 3. However, Louisville won the remaining two matches to take the team point and a 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals won the No. 5 singles match for a 2-0 lead, before Cojanu got the Tribe on the board with a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 4 over Octavian Nicodim. Louisville went on to win the next three completed matches, on courts six, two and three, to clinch the team victory, before Kader, ranked 60th in the nation in singles, closed out the contest by upsetting No. 54 Johnson, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, in the top match.

W&M will return to action Thursday, March 31 at 3:30 PM on the road against Virginia, currently ranked No. 3 in the nation. Louisville’s next match will be Wednesday at home against IUPUI.

Match Notes: W&M falls to 0-4 all-time against Louisville ... Jeff Kader improves to 6-8 against nationally ranked singles op-ponents this season ... Kader’s doubles victory with Alex Coajnu is the 75th of his career, tying him with Sean Kelleher for the fifth most in school history since 1986 ... Cojanu leads the team with 18 singles wins and 17 doubles victories this season.



#26 Louisville 5, William and Mary 2
Singles
1. #60 Jeff Kader (W&M) d. #54 Damar Johnson; 6-7, 7-6, 6-2
2. Slavko Radman (UL) d. Colin O’Brien; 7-5, 6-3
3. Jakob Gustafsson (UL) d. Sean Kelleher; 7-6 (4), 6-3
4. Alex Cojanu (W&M) d. Octavian Nicodim; 6-4, 6-2
5. Jeremy Clark (UL) d. Stephen Ward; 6-4, 6-1
6. Jhonny Berrido (UL) d. Alex Fish; 6-3, 6-4
Order of finish: 5, 4, 6, 2, 3, 1

Doubles
1. #34 Clark/Gustafsson (UL) d. Kelleher/Ward; 9-8 (2)
2. Berrido/Radman (UL) d. Fish/O’Brien; 8-5
3. Cojanu/Kader (W&M) d. Johnson/Mark Kennedy; 9-8 (1)
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1