Green and Gold Wins Tribe National Indoor Invite

Senior Marwan Ramadan clinched the Tribe victory with a win at the No. 2 singles position.

Williamsburg (1/31/09) - The William and Mary men's tennis team won the Tribe National Team Invitational with a 4-3 victory over No. 60-ranked Clemson on Saturday evening at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. The Green and Gold swept the doubles, before juniors Keziel Juneau and Richard Wardell claimed singles victories and senior Marwan Ramadan clinched the match with a triumph at the No. 2 singles positions. The College improved to 9-2 on the season, marking the Green and Gold's best start to a season since 1997. The College knocked off its second ranked opponent in as many days.

The College won the doubles point with victories at all three pairs slots. Senior Dominic Pagon and freshman Ilja Orre upped their duo's mark to a perfect 5-0 with an 8-5 win over Wesley Moran and Carlos Alvarez at the No.2 spot, before the Tribe's top pair of Juneau and sophomore Sebastien Vidal defeated Rok Bizjak and Gera Boryachinkiy, 8-6. The W&M tandem upped its ledger to 12-4 on the season with its fifth dual-match win. Ramadan and Wardell rounded out the Tribe sweep with a tiebreaker, 9-8 (5), victory over Derek DiFazio and Ike Belk at the No.3 slot to improve to 3-1.

Juneau and Wardell pulled the College within a single win of the team triumph. Juneau continued his dominant performance at the No. 1 singles spot, defeating Rok Bizjak, 6-4, 6-3. The Repentigny, Quebec native pushed his mark to 13-5 overall and a team-best 9-2 in dual-match competition, all at the No.1 position. Wardell tallied his seventh singles win, downing Kevin Fleck, 6-1, 7-5, at the No. 5 singles spot. After a Clemson win at the No. 3 position, Ramadan clinched the match for the College with a straight-sets win at the No. 2 spot. The Tribe senior improved to 7-4 on the year, defeating Carlos Alvarez, 6-3, 6-3.

The Tribe National Indoor Invitational was the conclusion of an 11-match season-opening homestand for the Green and Gold. The College will return to action with a pair of road matches at Wake Forest and Georgia. W&M travels to face No. 27 Demon Deacons on Saturday, Feb. 7, at 11:30 a.m., before trekking to Athens, Ga., to meeting the No. 3 Bulldogs at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 8.

#63 William and Mary 4, #60 Clemson 3
Singles
No. 1 - Keziel Juneau (W&M) def. Rok Bizjak (Clemson) – 6-4, 6-3
No. 2 - Marwan Ramadan (W&M) def. Carlos Alvarez (Clemson) – 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 - Gera Boryachinskiy (Clemson) def. Dominic Pagon (W&M) – 6-2, 6-1
No. 4 - Kevin Galloway (Clemson) def. Sebastien Vidal (W&M) – 4-6, ret.
No. 5 - Richard Wardell (W&M) def. Kevin Fleck (Clemson) – 6-1, 7-5
No. 6 - Ike Belk (Clemson) def. Ilja Orre (W&M) – 6-4, 6-3

Doubles
No. 1 - #52 Vidal/Juneau (W&M) def. Boryachinkiy/Bizjak (Clemson) – 8-6
No. 2 - Pagon/Orre (W&M) def. Moran/Alvarez (Clemson) – 8-5
No. 3 - Ramadan/Wardell (W&M) def. DiFazio/Belk (Clemson) – 9-8 (5)