Old Dominion Falls To William & Mary :: Match Comes Down To Final Point

March 26, 2003

WILLIAMSBURG, VA In a match that wasn't decided until the final point, William and Mary's 34th-ranked men's tennis team defeated No. 60 Old Dominion, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at the Busch Tennis Courts. The win improves the Tribe's record to 11-6 overall and 2-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association, while the Monarchs drop to 11-5 (1-2 CAA).

W&M opened by winning the doubles point, taking the second and third matches. At No. 2, junior Geoff Russell (Phoenix, AZ) and sophomore Alex Fish defeated Patrik Binkowski and Izak van der Merwe, 8-6. In the third match, sophomores Jeff Kader and Zack Malmgren teamed up to win their ninth consecutive singles contest, defeating Salman Mohammed and Niklas Oskarsson, 8-4. Junior Zoltan Csanadi and freshman Adriano Mello posted Old Dominion's only win in doubles with a 8-2 victory at No. 1 doubles.

The Tribe went up, 3-1, after the first three singles matches, with Fish defeating Binkowski, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 4 and freshman Stephen Ward continuing his hot play and winning over Mohammed, 6-4, 6-3, for his 10th-straight singles win.

ODU tied the score at three with a pair of three-set wins. Zoltan Csanadi defeated Kader in the top match, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, and Calin Milos won against sophomore Sean Kelleher, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, at No. 3. That left the sixth singles match between Malmgren and Oskarsson to decide the match. Malmgren dropped the first set, but came back to win the second, 6-3. The two played to a 6-6 tie in the third, with Malmgren dropping just one point in the tiebreaker to win, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (1).

The Monarchs will return to action on Wednesday, March 26th, when they travel to Virginia Tech.

MATCH SUMMARY


Singles:


1. Zoltan Csanadi (ODU) d. Jeff Kader; 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
2. Izak van der Merwe (ODU) d. Geoff Russell; 6-4, 6-2
3. Calin Milos (ODU) d. Sean Kelleher; 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
4. Alex Fish (W&M) d. Patrik Binkowski; 6-1, 6-0
5. Stephen Ward (W&M) d. Salman Mohammed; 6-4, 6-3
6. Zack Malmgren (W&M) d. Niklas Oskarsson; 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (1)



Doubles:


1. Csanadi/Adriano Mello (ODU) d. Kelleher/Ward; 8-2
2. Fish/Russell (W&M) d. Binkowski/van der Merwe; 8-6
3. Kader/Malmgren (W&M) d. Mohammed/Oskarsson; 8-4