Tribe Makes History in Sending Cojanu and Juneau to NCAA Individual Championships

Senior Alex Cojanu will compete in the NCAA Singles Championship, while he will team with sophomore Keziel Juneau in the doubles bracket.

04/30/08 6:00PM

Indianapolis, Ind. - The William and Mary men’s tennis team made a little history on Wednesday as the Division I Men’s Tennis Subcommittee announced both a Tribe singles player and doubles team will compete in the NCAA Individual Championships. Both senior Alex Cojanu as well as the Tribe doubles team of Cojanu and sophomore Keziel Juneau earned the Colonial Athletic Association’s automatic bids to the NCAA Individual Championships, which will be held at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla., May 21-26.

The selection of Cojanu and Juneau to the individual championships marks the first time since the NCAA changed its format from a points system to separate team and individual championships that both a W&M singles player and doubles team have been included in the championship field. Prior to 1977, the NCAA Championship was decided by a points system based on both the singles and doubles events. The Tribe won back-to-back national championships in 1947 and 1948. Thus, the Tribe will have a singles player and doubles team competing at the NCAA Championship level for the first time in more than 50 years.

Automatic qualification into the Division I singles championships was awarded to any conference with one or more eligible singles players ranked in the ITA Top 125 for eligible/entered singles players. For conferences with more than one singles player within the ITA Top 125 eligible/entered singles players, the subcommittee will apply the NCAA selection criteria to determine which student-athlete was the automatic qualifier from those conferences. Automatic qualification into the Division I doubles championships will be awarded to any conference with one or more eligible doubles teams ranked in the ITA Top 60 for eligible/entered doubles teams. For conferences with more than one doubles team within the ITA Top 60 eligible/entered doubles teams, the subcommittee applied the NCAA selection criteria to deter-mine which doubles team was the automatic qualifier from those conferences.

A three-time All-CAA choice in singles, Cojanu garnered a berth in the 64-player singles field for the first time in his career. The Hallandale, Fla., native became the first Tribe player since Jeff Kader (2004 and 2005) to not only appear in the NCAA Singles Championship, but also appear at the NCAA Individual Championships in back-to-back seasons. Cojanu, who is ranked No. 109 in the country, owns 17 singles victories this season and is ranked ninth in school history with 78 career singles wins. Cojanu has faced 11 players that qualified for the field of 64 this season, including a win over No. 14-ranked and No. 9-16 seeded Bruno Rosa of Rice during the dual match season.

For the second straight season, the Tribe placed a team in the NCAA Doubles Championship. Last season, Cojanu and Colin O’Brien advanced to the second round before falling to the eventual national championship team from Middle Tennessee State. This season, Cojanu and Juneau, who are ranked No. 36 nationally, garnered a spot in the 32-team doubles field. The Tribe duo is 10-8 this season and owns a trio of wins over nationally ranked opponents.

The pair advanced to the round of 16 at the ITA All-American Championship during the fall season with a win over the No. 2-ranked team in the country. The pair also earned First-Team All-CAA honors as a tandem for the second straight season. Cojanu and Juneau have played eight teams in the 32-team field, including five of the top eight seeded teams in the tournament. The W&M duo owns victories over a pair of national top-10 foes in the No. 8-ranked Maryland duo of Andy Orban and Boris Fetbroyt and the No. 7-ranked Wake Forest team of Cory Parr and Steven Forman. Both teams are No. 5-8 seeds in the event.

The brackets for both the singles and doubles championships will be released prior to the events in Tulsa, Okla., during the month of May.