Tribe Fights Out of Huge Hole to Knock off No. 38 ODU

W&M dropped the doubles point and five of the first sets in singles, before rallying for the 5-2 CAA victory.

01/24/08 12:00PM

Norfolk, Va. - For the second straight year, the No. 43 William and Mary men’s tennis team rallied from a deficit to defeat No. 38 Old Dominion, but the 2008 triumph came from a near insurmountable hole at the Folkes-Stevens Indoor Tennis Center on Wednesday night. The Tribe dropped the doubles point and five of the six first sets, before rallying to claim five of the six singles matches on it way to the 5-2 victory. W&M upped its mark to 3-1 on the season, while the Monarchs fell to 3-1.

“I am very proud of the fight our players showed in coming back from such a huge deficit against a talented opponent,” head coach Peter Daub said. “We dropped the doubles point and five of the six first sets in singles. To be able to come back from that type of adversity speaks volumes about our players’ determination and tenacity. Old Dominion is a very good team that will prove to be one of the better teams nationally as the season goes along. This is a great win for our guys.”

After dropping the doubles point, W&M found itself in an even deeper hole after the first sets of the singles. ODU took the opening sets at the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 positions. Staring adversity in the face, the College preserved when it could have folded and forced decisive third sets at each those positions. All six singles slots were decided in third sets.

The lone win in the singles ledger for the Monarchs came at the No. 1 position, but it would not be enough as the surging Tribe took the remaining five slots. At the No. 2 position, junior Dominic Pagon pushed his team-best win total to 12 with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7) win over Tobias Fanselow.

The sophomore duo Keziel Juneau and Richard Wardell rallied for victories at the No. 3 and No. 4 slots. After dropping the first set, 6-4, to Eidy Igarashi, Juneau came back to take the final two sets, 7-5, 6-3. At No. 4, Wardell rallied to upend Matt Fawcett, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4. Both wins were the sixth of the season for Juneau and Wardell.

At the final two singles spots, juniors Marwan Ramadan and Alex Zuck claimed three-set affairs. After taking the first set in a tiebreaker, Ramadan needed a 6-3 win in the third to down Rodrigo Souza at the No. 5 slot. Zuck rallied from a set deficit to down Yakov Diskin, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, at the No. 6 positions. The triumph was the seventh of the campaign for Zuck, while Ramadan improved to 9-5 overall.

ODU took the doubles point with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 slot. The W&M team of senior Alex Cojanu and Juneau downed Alexander Seleznez and Igarashi, 9-7, at the No. 1 pairs’ position. It was the fifth victory of the season for the No. 33-ranked tandem nationally.

The College will return to action host a pair of matches at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center on Saturday, Jan. 26. W&M will welcome No. 15-ranked Wake Forest to Williamsburg at 10 a.m., before Longwood faces the Tribe at 6 p.m.

#43 William and Mary 5, #38 Old Dominion 2
Singles
No. 1 - Alexander Seleznev (ODU) def. Alex Cojanu (WM) - 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
No. 2 - Dominic Pagon (WM) def. Tobias Fanselow (ODU) - 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(7)
No. 3 - Keziel Juneau (WM) def. Eidy Igarashi (ODU) - 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
No. 4 - Richard Wardell (WM) def. Matt Fawcett (ODU) - 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
No. 5 - Marwan Ramadan (WM) def. Rodrigo Souza (ODU) - 7-6 (6), 1-6, 6-3
No. 6 - Alex Zuck (WM) def. Yakov Diskin (ODU) - 2-6, 6-2, 6-4

Doubles
No. 1 - #33 Cojanu/Juneau (WM) def. Seleznev/Igarashi (ODU) 9-7
No. 2 - Souza/Fanselow (ODU) def. Pagon/Vidal (WM) 8-4
No. 3 - Diskin/Funkhouser (ODU) def. Wardell/Zuck (WM) 9-7