Tribe Downs No. 53 Maryland, George Mason

W&M has won seven of its last eight matches on the year.

03/03/07 8:00PM

College Park, Md. - The William and Mary men’s tennis program’s tough early season schedule is paying dividends as the Tribe has won seven of its last eight matches, including its pair of wins on March 3. W&M defeated No. 53 Maryland, 4-2, with a trio of three-set singles victories, before sweeping George Mason, 7-0, in College Park, Md. With the victories, the College improved to 9-6 on the season.

“We beat a very solid Maryland team simply because we responded to the adversity of losing a tight match against a highly rated team last weekend,” head coach Peter Daub said. “The guys dedicated themselves in practice and to a desire to win this match. We were committed to playing solid tennis and that allowed us to record a good win on the road.”

W&M notched the doubles point against Maryland with victories at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. Junior Alex Cojanu and freshman Keziel Juneau continued to roll at the top spot, winning their sixth straight match, 8-6, over David Kwon and Boris Fetbroyt. The W&M tandem of senior Colin O’Brien and sophomore Dominic Pagon clinched the point with a win at the No. 2 spot. Playing for the first time together this season, O’Brien and Pagon downed Andrew Orban and Trey Taylor, 8-5.

After dropping the No. 1 and No. 5 positions in straight sets, the Tribe won a trio of three-set affairs to claim the team victory. Two of the three wins were of the comeback variety at the No. 2 and No. 4 slots.

After dropping the opening set, 6-4, O’Brien, who is ranked No. 74 nationally, evened his match with Kwon thanks to a 6-0 win in the second set. The decisive third set went a tiebreaker before O’Brien tallied a 7-6 (5) to claim the victory. At the No. 3 slot, Juneau continued his hot streak, winning in three sets. The Repentigny, Quebec, Canada native split the opening two sets with Nickolai Nielsen, before sweeping the decisive third set, 6-0, to notch the win.

Sophomore Marwan Ramadan clinched the Tribe victory with a come-from-behind win at the No. 4 slot. After falling in the opening set, 7-5, Ramadan evened the match with a 6-3 win in the second set. He then locked up the match, downing Scott Fink, 6-4, in the third set.

Against George Mason, the Tribe swept the Patriots and did not drop a set. In doubles, the Tribe did not drop a game at the No. 2 and No. 3 slot. Freshman Richard Wardell and Ramadan defeated Jay Friedman and Jordan Lipstock, 8-0, at the No. 2 slot, while Juneau and junior Kavi Sud blanked Martin Brown and Imran Nayeem, 8-0, at No. 3. O’Brien and Cojanu, who are ranked No. 34 nationally, closed on the W&M doubles sweep with an 8-2 win at the No. 1 slot.

Wardell, Sud and Zuck notched dominating performances at the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 positions. The trio combined to drop only four games in the three matches. Wardell evened his season mark at 14-14 with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Lipstock at the No. 4 position. Sud rolled past Nayeem, 6-1, 6-0, at the No. 5 spot, while Zuck won his eighth straight match, 6-0, 6-1, over Brown at the No. 6 slot.

O’Brien defeated Stas Budagov at the No. 1 position, 6-1, 6-3. Ramadan won his third match of the season at the No. 3 slot, 6-1, 7-6 (4), over Daniel Schneider, while Juneau closed out the W&M sweep with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Friedman at No. 3.

The Tribe returns to action on Friday, March 9, when George Washington visits Williamsburg. The College will battle the Colonials at 3:30 p.m. at Busch Courts.

Match Notes
W&M defeated its third ranked foe of the year … The win was the Tribe’s first in the three-game series with Maryland … Juneau and Cojanu improved to 6-0 on the year and 2-0 at the No. 1 doubles position … Juneau upped his winning streak to eight straight with his team-leading 15th and 16th victories … Juneau also improved to 6-1 at the No. 3 singles position … The three-set victories were the fourth of the season for Ramadan and O’Brien … Juneau’s three-set win was his fifth of the year … O’Brien has won seven of his last eight matches and is 15-10 overall … Ramadan improved to 13-9 overall in singles … Wardell evened his season mark at 14-14 with the victory over George Mason … Zuck won his eighth straight match and improved to 14-8.

#67 William and Mary 4, #53 Maryland 2
Singles
No. 1 - Andrew Orban (MD) def. Alex Cojanu (W&M) - 6-3, 7-6 (5)
No. 2 - #74 Colin O'Brien (W&M) def. David Kwon (MD) - 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (5)
No. 3 - Keziel Juneau (W&M) def. Nickolai Nielsen (MD) - 6-2, 3-6, 6-0
No. 4 - Marwan Ramadan (W&M) def. Scott Fink (MD) - 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 - L. Lavallee (MD) def. Dominic Pagon (W&M) - 6-3, 6-1
No. 6 - Boris Fetbroyt (MD) vs. Alex Zuck (W&M) - 6-7, 6-4, 2-3, unfinished

Doubles
No. 1 - Cojanu/Juneau (W&M) def. Kwon/Fetbroyt (MD) - 8-6
No. 2 - O'Brien/Pagon (W&M) def. Orban/Trey Taylor (MD) - 8-5
No. 3 - Fink/ Lavallee (MD) def. Richard Wardell/Kavi Sud (W&M) - 8-6

#67 William and Mary 7, George Mason 0
Singles
No. 1 - #74 Colin O'Brien (W&M) def. Stas Budagov (GMU) – 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 - Marwan Ramadan (W&M) def. Daniel Schneider (GMU) – 6-1, 7-6 (4)
No. 3 - Keziel Juneau (W&M) def. Jay Friedman (GMU) – 6-3, 6-1
No. 4 – Richard Wardell (W&M) def. Jordan Lipstock (GMU) – 6-0, 6-2
No. 5 – Kavi Sud (W&M) def. Imran Nayeem (GMU) – 6-1, 6-0
No. 6 - Alex Zuck (W&M) def. Martin Brown (GMU) – 6-0, 6-1

Doubles
No. 1 - #32 Cojanu/O’Brien (W&M) def. Schneider/Budagov (GMU) – 8-2
No. 2 – Wardell/Ramadan (W&M) def. Friedman/Lipstock (GMU) – 8-0
No. 3 – Juneau/Sud (W&M) def. Brown/Nayeem (GMU) – 8-0