Men's Tennis Falls To William & Mary In CAA Semifinals :: Cancado, Mello Earn Victories In ODU's 4-2 Loss To The Tribe

April 23, 2005

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Top-seeded Virginia Commonwealth defeated #4 UNC Wilmington 4-0 and #2 William & Mary fought past #3 Old Dominion 4-2 in the semifinals of the 2005 CAA Men's Tennis Championship Saturday at Huntington Park Tennis Center in Newport News, Va.

W&M claimed the doubles point after getting a pair of 8-2 victories from their #2 team of Alex Cojanu/Jeff Kader and their #3 tandem of Alex Fish/Colin O'Brien to offset the 8-4 win by ODU's #1 duo of Izak van der Merwe/Nate Grover. The two teams split the first four singles matches that were completed. W&M's Kader, ranked #66 in the nation, defeated the 33 rd -ranked van der Merwe 6-3, 6-4 at number one and #6 Matt Rubenstein beat Juliano Cirimbelli, 6-4, 6-1. The Monarchs got a 6-3, 6-4 win from #2 Henrique Cancado over O'Brien and a 6-4, 7-6 (5) triumph from Adriano Mello over Stephen Ward at number five. The match was decided at number four as Tribe freshman Alex Cojanu, the CAA Co-Rookie of the Year, rallied for a 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory over Rodrigo Souza.

VCU earned the doubles point as their top-seeded team of Arnaud Lecloerec/Marton Ott posted an 8-3 victory and their #3 duo of Francesc Lleal/Sergi Arumi rolled to an 8-0 triumph. The Rams closed out the victory with three straight-set wins in singles. Lleal beat UNCW's Robbie Paul 6-1, 6-1 at number three and #6 Damien Lacombe defeated Aaron Rassell 6-2, 6-0 before Lecloerec, the CAA Co-Player of the Year, topped the Seahawks' Caio Piacentini 6-3, 6-4 at the number one flight.

The Rams and the Tribe will meet in Sunday's title match at 1 p.m. It will be the fifth time in the past seven years that the two squads have matched up for the CAA championship.

2005 CAA MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP Huntington Park Tennis Center - Newport News, Va.

April 23, 2005 - Semifinals

#2 William & Mary 4, #3 Old Dominion 2

Singles
#1 Jeff Kader (W&M) d. Izak van der Merwe (ODU), 6-3, 6-4
#2 Henrique Cancado (ODU) d. Colin O'Brien (W&M), 6-3, 6-4
#3 Sean Kelleher (W&M) vs. Eidy Igarashi (ODU) - DNF
#4 Alex Cojanu (W&M) d. Rodrigo Souza (ODU), 4-6, 6-1, 7-5
#5 Adriano Mello (ODU) d. Stephen Ward (W&M), 6-4, 7-6 (5)
#6 Matt Rubenstein (W&M) d. Juliano Cirimbelli (ODU), 6-4, 6-1

Doubles
#1 van der Merwe/Nate Grover (ODU) d. Ward/Kelleher (W&M), 8-4
#2 Cojanu/Kader (W&M) d. Igarashi/Souza (ODU), 8-2
#3 Alex Fish/O'Brien (W&M) d. Cancado/Cirimbelli, 8-2

#1 Virginia Commonwealth 4, #4 UNC Wilmington 0

Singles
#1 Arnaud Lecloerec (VCU) d. Caio Piacentini (UNCW), 6-3, 6-4
#2 Marton Ott (VCU) vs. Alvaro Penteado (UNCW) - DNF
#3 Francesc Lleal (VCU) d. Robbie Paul (UNCW), 6-1, 6-1
#4 Sergi Arumi (VCU) vs. Rahul Rajkhewa (UNCW) - DNF
#5 Sebastian Ripoll (VCU) vs. Grant Holland (UNCW) - DNF
#6 Damien Lacombe (VCU) d. Aaron Rassell (UNCW), 6-2, 6-0

Doubles
#1 Lecloerec/Ott (VCU) d. Piacentini/Penteado (UNCW), 8-3
#2 Lohff/Ripoll (VCU) vs. Rajkhewa/Holland (UNCW) - DNF
#3 Lleal/Arumi (VCU) d. Rassell/Paul (UNCW), 8-0

CAA MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE FOR APRIL 24 - Finals
#1 Va. Commonwealth vs. #2 William & Mary - 1 p.m.