Tribe Puts Scare into No. 24 Rice, Downs JMU in Doubleheader

W&M is 11-4 overall and a pefect 4-0 in the CAA following the doubleheader split on Sunday.

02/17/08 7:30PM

Williamsburg - The No. 43-ranked William and Mary men’s tennis team split a doubleheader against No. 24 Rice and James Madison on Sunday at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. The College put a scare into the 24th-ranked Owls, before falling 4-3. The Tribe capped the day by remaining perfect in the CAA with a 7-0 win over James Madison. W&M is 11-4 on the year and 4-0 in the CAA following the doubleheader split.

In the opening match of the day, the Owls took the initial point of the match, claiming the top two doubles positions. The point came down to an exciting match at the No. 1 position. Rice easily claimed the No. 2 spot, while the Tribe answered with a win at the No. 3 position. The duo of senior Kavi Sud and freshman Sebastien Vidal disposed of Tobias Scheil and Bruno Rosa. 8-5, to even the doubles up.

At the top spot, the Green and Gold tandem of senior Alex Cojanu and sophomore Keziel Juneau trailed by an early break and was down 30-love in the sixth game to Christoph Muller and Ralph Knupfer, before reeling off four straight points to break and even the match at three. The Owls took control with breaks in the ninth and 11th games for a commanding 7-4 lead. The Tribe tandem would not go down without a fight though as it broke back and won a service game to close to 7-6. Cojanu and Juneau had chances to pull even in the final game of the match, but could not take advantage of three break points, before Muller and Knupfer rallied and won the tilt on its first match point.

With the match tied at two, the team outcome came down to a trio of three-set matches at the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 singles slots. The Owls took the advantage with a win at the No. 2 slot as No. 34-ranked Muller defeated junior Dominic Pagon, 6-0, 4-6, 6-1. Needing the final two matches on the court to win the match, W&M could not pull out the victory as the Owls’ Chong Wang rallied from a set deficit to knock off Vidal, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, at the No. 5 spot to clinch the win.

At No. 2, Juneau pulled off a big upset, knocking off the No. 45-ranked player in the country, Ralph Knupfer, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. It marked the highest ranked player that the Repentigny, Quebec native has defeated in his first two season with the Tribe as he won his third straight match. Juneau improved to 12-8 overall on the year.

“Rice is a very good team that is ranked in the top 25, and we went nose-to-nose with them,” William and Mary head coach Peter Daub said. “In the end, they were just a little bit better than us today. I am proud of the way the guys fought and competed. Hopefully, we can take this same kind of mindset in every match throughout the rest of the season.”

Cojanu got the Tribe on the board against Rice with an impressive straight sets win over Bruno Rosa at the top singles position. After both players held serve through the opening 11 games of the first set, Cojanu broke Rosa to take the opening set, 7-5. The break started a streak of points for the Tribe tri-captain as he swept through the second set, 6-0, to claim the victory. Rosa came into the match with impressive credentials, holding a perfect 14-0 singles record. He was also ranked as high as No. 402 in the world in singles during his career in 2006. After Rice reclaimed the lead with a win at the No. 4 position, sophomore Richard Wardell tied things back up with at 6-2, 6-4 win over Dennis Polygtev at the No. 6 spot.

In the second match of the day, the Tribe shutout CAA foe James Madison, 7-0. W&M tallied the doubles point with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 slots. The Tribe’s No. 2 duo of Sud and Vidal remained perfect on the day and improved to 8-1 overall with an 8-3 victory over Carlin Campbell and Brian Rubenstein. The rookie pair of Ben Wirth and Ben Gullickson clinched the initial point of the match with an 8-5 win over Jared Robinson and Yaroslav Voznenko at the No. 3 slot.

W&M swept the singles positions in straight sets against the Dukes. Wardell started things off with his fifth straight win, downing Campbell, 6-1, 6-3, at the No. 6 position. The W&M sophomore improved to 9-4 in dual matches this season with his 12th singles win of the year.

The College clinched the dual-match victory with wins at the top two singles slot. Cojanu won his second match of the day and 12th on the season, upending Jesse Tarr, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 1 position. Pagon solidified the W&M victory with his team-leading 17th win of the season. He downed Jared Robinson, 6-0, 6-4, at the No. 2 position.

Juniors Marwan Ramadan and Alex Zuck along with Vidal rounded out the Green and Gold victory with straight-set victories. Vidal notched his 10th win of the season with a 6-4, 7-6 win over Mike Smith at the No. 3 position. Zuck beat Rubenstein, 7-5, 6-1, at the No. 4 position for his 11th triumph of the campaign. Ramadan improved to 16-8 on the year with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Yaroslav Voznenko at the No. 5 spot.

The Tribe will have two weeks off before returning to action with a pair of matches in Boise, Idaho, March 2-3. W&M will battle No. 57 Minnesota on Sunday, March 2, before facing No. 35 Boise State on Monday, March 3.

#24 Rice 4, #43 William and Mary 3
Singles
No. 1 – Alex Cojanu (W&M) def. Bruno Rosa (Rice) – 7-5, 6-0
No. 2 – #34 Christoph Muller (Rice) def. Dominic Pagon (W&M) – 6-0, 4-6, 6-1
No. 3 – Keziel Juneau (W&M) def. #45 Ralph Knupfer (Rice) – 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
No. 4 – Filip Zivajinuvic (Rice) def. Marwan Ramadan (W&M) – 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 – Chong Wang (Rice) def. Sebastien Vidal (W&M) – 1-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 – Richard Wardell (W&M) def. Dennis Polygtev (Rice) – 6-2, 6-4
Finishing Order: 1, 4, 6, 2, 5*, 3

Doubles
No. 1 - Knupfer/Muller (Rice) def. #33 Cojanu/Juneau (W&M) – 8-6
No. 2 – Zivajinuvic/Wang (Rice) def. Ben Wirth/Pagon (W&M) – 8-3
No. 3 – Kavi Sud/Vidal (W&M) def. Scheil/Rosa (Rice) – 8-5
Finishing Order: 2, 3, 1*

#43 William and Mary 7, James Madison 0
Singles
No. 1 – Alex Cojanu (W&M) vs. Jesse Tarr (JMU) – 6-2, 6-3
No. 2 – Dominic Pagon (W&M) vs. Jared Robinson (JMU) – 6-0, 6-4
No. 3 – Sebastien Vidal (W&M) vs. Mike Smith (JMU) – 6-4, 7-6
No. 4 – Alex Zuck (W&M) def. Brian Rubenstein (JMU) – 7-5, 6-1
No. 5 – Marwan Ramadan (W&M) def. Yaroslav Voznenko (JMU) – 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 – Richard Wardell (W&M) def. Carlin Campbell (JMU) –6-1, 6-3
Finishing Order: 6, 1, 2*, 5,4, 3

Doubles
No. 1 – Smith/Tarr (JMU) def. Pagon/Zuck (W&M) – 8-4
No. 2 - Sud/Vidal (W&M) def. Campbell/Rubenstein (JMU) – 8-3
No. 3 - Gullickson/Wirth (W&M) def. Robinson/Voznenko (JMU) – 8-5
Finishing Order: 2, 1, 3*