Tribe Battles No. 15 Wake Forest Tough

Junior Dominic Pagon defeated the No. 91-ranked player in the country at the No. 2 singles position

01/26/08 3:45PM

Williamsburg - The No. 43-ranked William and Mary men’s tennis team gave the No. 15-ranked Wake Forest all it could handle, before falling, 5-2, at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon. W&M raced out the gates, claiming the doubles point and junior Dominic Pagon knocked off a ranked opponent at No. 2 singles. Despite the successes, the Demon Deacons were able to claim five of the six singles slots to take the victory. W&M fell to 3-2 on the year, while Wake Forest won its opening match of the season.

W&M swept the doubles to claim the opening point of the match. The duo of Pagon and freshman Sebastien Vidal cruised past the Demon Deacon tandem of Iain Atkinson and Andrew Brasseaux, 8-2, at the No. 3 spot. The W&M pair of junior Alex Zuck and sophomore Richard Wardell clinched the point with an 8-6 over the No. 45-ranked duo of Carlos Salmon and Mariusz Adamski.

The Tribe’s top tandems team of senior Alex Cojanu and sophomore Keziel Juneau tallied its second win over a nationally ranked team this season. The No. 33-ranked W&M duo outlasted the No. 21-ranked Wake Forest pair of Cory Parr and Steven Forman in a tiebreaker, 9-8.

Wake Forest took the No. 6 and No. 3 singles slots to take a 2-1 lead in the match, before Pagon pulled the Tribe even at two with his win at the No. 2 position. The Kingston, Jamaica native broke No. 91-ranked Foreman in the seventh game of the first set on his way a 6-4 victory. In the second set, the two players traded breaks in the seventh and eighth games, before Pagon served up an ace to clinch the tiebreaker triumph, 7-6. It marked the second time in his career that Pagon has defeated a nationally ranked foe.

The Demon Deacons would claim the match, though, winning the final three contests on the court. Wake Forest took a 3-2 lead with a win at No. 5, before clinching the match with a win at No. 4. Cojanu battled before dropping a tight three-set affair to No. 64-ranked Parr at the top singles position. The W&M senior trailed by a break early in the opening set, but battled back to even, before breaking Parr in the 12th game to claim the opening set, 7-5. Parr came back with a tiebreaker win in the second set to force a decisive third. The Demon Deacon claimed the match with a 10-4 win in the third-set super tiebreaker.

W&M wraps up the Saturday doubleheader against Longwood at 6 p.m. The Tribe will hit the road following its Jan. 26 doubleheader with three matches on the road. The College will face Ivy League foes Brown and Harvard on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, respectively, before battling Purdue in Boston on Feb. 3. The Brown match is slated for a 3 p.m. start time, while both matches in Boston are schedule for 6 p.m. start times. W&M returns home with doubleheaders on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10.

Match Notes
Cojanu and Juneau improved to 6-4 on the year in doubles with its second win over a ranked foe ... The Tribe’s top duo has defeated four nationally ranked opponents over the last two years ... Zuck and Wardell improved to 5-4 on the year, while Pagon and Vidal upped their pair’s mark to 2-1 ... Pagon improved his team-best record to 14-7 with his win at No. 2 ... It marked his second win over a nationally ranked foe and the highest ranked opponent he has defeated in his career.

#15 Wake Forest 5, #43 William and Mary 2
Singles
No. 1 – #64 Cory Parr (WF) def. Alex Cojanu (W&M) – 5-7, 7-6, 10-4
No. 2 – Dominic Pagon (W&M) def. #91 Steven Forman (WF) – 6-4, 7-6
No. 3 – Mariusz Adamski (WF) def. Keziel Juneau (W&M) – 6-4, 6-0
No. 4 – Jonathan Wolff (WF) def. Richard Wardell (W&M) – 6-2, 7-5
No. 5 - Andrew Brasseaux (WF) def. Marwan Ramadan (W&M) – 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 – Jason Morgenstern (WF) def. Alex Zuck (W&M) – 6-1, 6-1
Finishing Order: 6, 3, 2, 5, 4*, 1

Doubles
No. 1 - #33 Cojanu/Juneau (W&M) def. #21 Parr/Forman (WF) – 9-8
No. 2 – Zuck/Wardell (W&M) def. #45 Carlos Salmon/Adamski (WF) - 8-6
No. 3 – Pagon/Vidal (W&M) def. Iain Atkinson /Brasseaux (WF) - 8-2
Finishing Order: 3, 2*, 1