William and Mary Men’s Tennis Stuns Top Seed VCU to Win CAA Title

Tribe Wins First League Championship Since 1990

04/24/05 7:13PM

NEWPORT NEWS, VA - William and Mary’s second-seeded men’s tennis team stunned top seed Virginia Commonwealth, 4-2, to win the 2005 Colonial Athletic Association championship this afternoon at the Huntington Park Tennis Center. The win is the Tribe’s first conference title since 1990 and is the first time since VCU joined the league in 1996 that the Rams have not won the CAA championship. The victory also gives the College an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, the first time that the Tribe has made the event since 1999.

The victory caps off an impressive late-season run for W&M, which has won seven of its last eight matches, improving its record to 11-14. The Rams, ranked 38th in the nation, drop to 16-10 with the loss.

“I would like to acknowledge VCU for a hard-fought battle and for being a true champion in the league for the last nine years,” said W&M head coach Peter Daub. “They have set a very high bar for us to aim for over the past decade and we were fortunate enough to climb the ladder and reach that bar today.”

W&M opened the contest in dramatic fashion, winning the doubles point with victories on courts two and three. Senior Jeff Kader (Geneva, OH) and freshman Alex Cojanu (Hallandale, FL), the 2005 CAA Co-Rookie of the Year, won first, defeating Francesc Lleal and Sebastien Ripoll, 8-6, at No. 2. VCU narrowly won the top match, 9-7, putting the burden of winning the crucial doubles point on the match at court three. There, Tribe senior Alex Fish (Scituate, MA) and sophomore Colin O’Brien (Dublin, Ireland) came back from a 6-4 tiebreak deficit, saving a total of six match points, to win the marathon match, 9-8 (14), over VCU’s Sergi Arumi and Francesc Lleal.

The Tribe carried its energy from doubles into its singles play, quickly winning first sets on three courts. VCU struck first in singles, tying the score at one with a win at No. 6, but the Tribe quickly retook the lead with a victory in the top match, where Kader, ranked 66th in the nation, avenged a regular-season loss by defeating 2005 CAA Co-Player of the Year Arnaud Lecloerec, ranked 20th in the nation, in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5. VCU re-tied the score at two points with a singles win at No. 4, but it was not enough to slow down the Tribe’s momentum, as the College won its matches on courts five and three. Junior Stephen Ward (Douglaston, NY) put the Green and Gold just one point away from the title with his 6-3, 7-5 win at No. 5 over Arumi and just minutes later, senior Sean Kelleher (Forty Fort, PA) completed the thrilling victory with a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 3 over Daniel Lohff.

“I am so proud of this team for fighting to the end and overcoming early-season adversity,” said Daub. “There are many teams that would have folded in our situation, but each player continued to fight and refused to give up at any time. I’m extremely happy for our three seniors—this fulfills a goal and a dream of theirs that they have been striving for since they arrived on campus four years ago.”

With the win, the Tribe earns the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, which begins the weekend of May 13-15 at 16 campus sites around the nation. W&M’s matchup will be announced on the nationally televised NCAA Selection Show on Wednesday, May 4.

Notes: William and Mary improves to 8-16 all-time against Virginia Commonwealth ... The win caps off an impressive day for Tribe tennis, as the women’s team also won their CAA Championship earlier today ... W&M improves to 22-17 all-time in the CAA Tournament ... The Tribe men also won CAA titles in 1987 and 1990 ... W&M will make its ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, having also made the event in 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1973 and 1999 ... W&M won the NCAA Tournament in 1947 and 1948, the only NCAA team championships in school history ... Jeff Kader defeated both of the CAA’s Co-Players of the Year (Izak van der Merwe of Old Dominion and Arnaud Lecloerec of VCU) in straight sets over the past two days.

William and Mary 4, #38 Virginia Commonwealth 2
Colonial Athletic Association Tournament Final
Singles
1. #66 Jeff Kader (W&M) d. #20 Arnaud Lecloerec; 6-3, 7-5
2. Colin O’Brien (W&M) vs. Marton Ott; DNF
3. Sean Kelleher (W&M) d. Daniel Lohff; 6-4, 7-5
4. Francesc Lleal (VCU) d. Alex Cojanu; 7-5, 6-2
5. Stephen Ward (W&M) d. Sergi Arumi; 6-3, 7-5
6. Damien Lacombe (VCU) d. Matt Rubenstein; 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: 6, 1, 4, 5, 3

Doubles
1. Lecloerec/Ott (VCU) d. Kelleher/Ward; 9-7
2. Cojanu/Kader (W&M) d. Lohff/Sebastien Ripoll; 8-6
3. Alex Fish/O’Brien (W&M) d. Arumi/Lleal; 9-8 (14)
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3