Green and Gold Rallies Past Boilermakers

Junior Dominic Pagon clinched the comeback victory with his team-leading 15th singles win.

02/03/08 3:45PM

Boston, Mass. - The No. 38 William and Mary men’s tennis team wrapped up its three-match road trip with a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Big Ten foe Purdue on Saturday. After winning the doubles point, the College fell behind 3-1 before winning the final three singles matches to claim the match. W&M upped its mark to 6-3 on the year, while Purdue fell to 2-2.

W&M won the doubles point for the fourth consecutive match. The No. 33-ranked Tribe duo of senior Alex Cojanu and sophomore Keziel Juneau downed Branko Kuzmanovic and Slavko Bijelica, 8-4, at the top slot to improve to 9-4 overall and 5-1 in dual matches. The Tribe's No. 3 tandem of junior Dominic Pagon and freshman Sebastien Vidal clinched the point with its fifth straight win, upending Jose Fuemayor and Paul Foley, 8-6.

The Boilermakers reversed the momentum in singles by taking the first three matches off the court in building a 3-1 lead. Wins by Cojanu and Wardell at the No. 1 and No. 6 slots evened the contest for the Tribe and made the No. 2 position the deciding match. Cojanu notched his fifth win at the No. 1 position and ninth overall, beating Kuzmanovic, 6-2, 6-4. Wardell tallied his eighth singles win with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Foley.

The balance of the match was in the hands of Pagon for the Tribe and UNLV transfer Bijelica for Purdue. The W&M junior won the first set, 6-3, and then outlasted his Boilermaker counterpart in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (1), to ice the Green and Gold victory. It was Pagon’s team-leading 15th win of the season.

W&M will return to action with a pair of double headers on Saturday, Feb. 9, and Sunday, Feb. 10. The College will face Norfolk State at 9 a.m. on Saturday, before battling George Mason at 2 p.m. On Sunday, the Tribe meets No. 65 Northwestern at 11 a.m., before squaring off with Howard at 6 p.m. All four matches will be played at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center.

#38 William and Mary 4, Purdue 3
Singles
No. 1 – Alex Cojanu (W&M) def. Branko Kuzmanovic (PU) – 6-2, 6-4
No. 2 – Dominic Pagon (W&M) def. Slavko Bijelica (PU) – 6-3, 7-6 (1)
No. 3 – P.J. Rose (PU) def. Keziel Juneau (W&M) – 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 – Eric Ramos (PU) def. Sebastien Vidal (W&M) – 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 – Griff Nienberg (PU) def. Marwan Ramadan (W&M) – 6-2, 6-4
No. 6 – Richard Wardell (W&M) def. Paul Foley (PU) – 6-3, 6-3
Finishing Order: 4, 5, 3, 1, 6, 2*

Doubles
No. 1 - #33 Cojanu/Juneau (W&M) def. Kuzmanovic/Bijelica (PU) – 8-4
No. 2 – Ramos/Rose (PU) def. Wardell/Zuck (W&M) – 8-5
No. 3 – Pagon/Vidal (W&M) def. Jose Fuemayor/Foley (PU) – 8-6
Finishing Order: 1, 2, 3*