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Sept. 21, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA -- The Monarch men's tennis team faired well at their first competition of the season at the Virginia Invitational in Charlottesville on Saturday. Junior Zoltan Csanadi (Timisoara, Romania) and sophomore Izak van der Merwe (Kempton Park, South Africa) teamed up to the reach flight A doubles final.

Csanadi and van der Merwe opened with a hard fought 9-8 victory over Stephane Rod and David Emery of Virginia Tech in the opening round and followed with a 8-4 win over Jacek Volicki and Jeff Nabilty of Nebraska. The tandem reached the final by defeating Stephen Mitchell and Geoff Hiscox of Alabama, 8-6. They will face Brett Ross and Derrick Spice of Wake Forest in the final.

Izak Van der Merwe was also among the top Monarchs in the singles play as well, reaching the quarterfinals of the flight A singles bracket. He upset fourth seeded Stuart Waters of Iowa in straight sets, 7-6 (0), 6-1, in the opening round and handed Julien Lousao of CAA rival Virginia Commonwealth a 6-3, 6-2 loss to advance to the quarterfinal round. Van der Merwe's run however ended with a 7-6, 6-1 loss to Robert Searle of Rice.

Van der Merwe's doubles partner, Zoltan Csanadi was also in the flight A singles bracket, but fell in opening round of 32 with a three set loss, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1, to Wake Forest's David Bere. However, he did play his way to the finals of the consolation bracket. Csanadi defeated Ricardo Shinozaki of Liberty (6-4, 7-6), D.J. Geatz of Nebraska (6-3, 6-2), and Santiago Falla of Charleston Southern (6-4, 6-3) to reach the final. He will face Wake Forest's David Loewenthal in the final.

Junior Calin Milos (Timisoara, Romania) was the lone Monarch to advance in the flight B singles bracket. He won his round of 32 match with John Davis of N.C. State, 6-3, 6-1, but fell to Michael Ray Pallares of Alabama, 6-2, 6-3 in the following round. Following his opening round loss, Niklas Oskarsson (Halmstad, Sweden) reached the quarterfinals of the flight B consolation bracket. Oskarsson defeated Jeff Nabity of Nebraska, 6-2, 6-1 in the round of 16, but fell 7-5, 7-5 to Rehman Esmail of N.C. State in the quarters. Freshman Adriano Mello (Londrina, Brazil) made his debut as a Monarch in the bracket as well, but dropped a 6-4, 6-2 decision to Charleston Southern's Rodrigo Villarroel in the opening round and fell 6-4, 7-6 to Brian Isern of Alabama in the consolation.

Senior and 2002 MVP Salman Mohammed (Calcutta, India) advanced to the quarters of the flight C singles bracket. Following a first round bye, Mohammed defeated Virginia's Mark Montandon 6-1, 6-3. He fell in the quarterfinal round in three sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, to Wake Forest's Brett Ross.

In other doubles action, the duo of Adriano Mello and Salman Mohammed exited the doubles flight B bracket with a 8-6 loss to Cesar Vargas and D.J. Geatz of Nebraska. They rebounded however with a 9-7 victory over Iowa's duo of Hunter Skogman and Tres Jones in the consolation bracket. They then fell just short of reach the consolation bracket finals with a 8-4 loss to Virginia's Dillon Walker and Chris Gonyer. In other flight B doubles action, Calin Milos and Niklas Oskarsson defeated Iowa's Pete Rose and Johan Bergenas 8-3, but fell in the quarterfinals with a 8-2 loss to Kyle Hatten and Stephen Rozek of Virginia.