Tribe Falls in CAA Title Tilt to No. 26 VCU

Sophomore Keziel Juneau claimed the lone Tribe victory on the day at the No. 4 singles spot.

04/20/08 5:30PM

Williamsburg - The William and Mary men’s tennis team fell in the Colonial Athletic Association Championship match, 4-1, to No. 26 VCU on Sunday afternoon at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. The match was originally scheduled to be played at the Huntington Park Tennis Center in Newport News, Va., but was forced indoors due to inclement weather in the area. The College wrapped up the season at 16-13 overall. The appearance in the championship match was the sixth for the Tribe men's tennis program since 1999.

The Rams took the crucial doubles point to open the match, winning at the No. 2 and No. 3 position. The Tribe tandem of senior Kavi Sud and freshman Sebastien Vidal fell behind by a break early in the No. 3 contest, but battled back and had double break point trailing 6-5. The College could not come up with the momentum changing point as the VCU duo of Thibaut Charron and Bobo Delemark claim the game and went on to take an 8-6 victory. The Tribe tandem of senior Alex Cojanu and junior Dominic Pagon led by a break at 5-4 over the No. 54 ranked VCU team of Emil Lindgren and Sebastien Ripoll at the top doubles slot prior to the Rams clinching the point.

The Tribe quickly evened the match at one as sophomore Keziel Juneau tallied his 16th singles triumph of the season. The Repentigny, Quebec native led 6-5 in the opening set over Lindgren before the Ram’s No. 4 player retired, giving W&M its initial point of the contest.

At the No. 1 singles position, Cojanu also put the Tribe in a solid position. The three-time All-CAA singles selection took the opening set over Martin Schulhauser, 7-5, but the match would not finish as VCU claim singles wins at the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 spots to clinch the match. The second set with Cojanu, who is the highest ranked CAA player at No. 121, and Schulhauser was 3-2 on serve.

The Tribe will await word on the NCAA Individual Championship selections, which will be released on April 30. The NCAA Championships will be May 16-26 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

#1 VCU 4, #2 William and Mary 1
Singles
No. 1 - #121 Alex Cojanu (W&M) vs. Martin Schulhauser (VCU) - DNF
No. 2 - Thibaut Charron (VCU) def. Marwan Ramadon (W&M) - 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 - #124 Damien Lacombe (VCU) def. Dominic Pagon (W&M) - 6-1, 6-1
No. 4 - Keziel Juneau (W&M) def. Emil Lindgren (VCU), 6-5, retire
No. 5 - Alex Israel (VCU) def. Sebastien Vidal (W&M), 6-2, 6-0
No. 6 - Sebastien Ripoll (VCU) vs. Richard Wardell (W&M) - DNF
Finishing Order: 4, 5, 3, 2*

Doubles
No. 1 - Cojanu/Pagon (W&M) vs. #54 Lindgren/Ripoll (VCU) - DNF
No. 2 - Charron/Delemark (VCU) def. Juneau/Ramadon (W&M) - 8-3
No. 3 - Schulhauser/Siska (VCU) def. Vidal/Sud (W&M) - 8-6
Finishing Order: 2, 3*