College Tennis Teams - College of William and Mary - Team News

Williamsburg (3/15/09) - The William and Mary men's tennis team split a Sunday afternoon doubleheader at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center on March 15. After opening the day with a narrow 4-3 setback to No. 63 Harvard, the College came back to sweep Howard, 7-0, in the evening match. With the split, the Tribe moved to 13-9 overall on the season.

In the morning contest with the Crimson, the Tribe started things on the right foot, taking the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. The College's top double team of junior Keziel Juneau and sophomore Sebastien Vidal dispatched of Alistair Felton and Michael Hayes, 8-4, before the senior tandem of Dominic Pagon and Marwan Ramadan clinched the point with an 8-4 win over Michael Kalfayan and Chris Clayton at the No. 3 position. Pagon and Ramadan improved to 5-3 as a duo this season.

Harvard took over in singles, winning the first four individual matches off the court to claim the team triumph. It marked the College's second straight narrow 4-3 setback to a nationally ranked opponent, following a similar loss to No. 66 Penn State on March 13. W&M received singles wins from Vidal at the No. 3 spot and freshman Ilja Orre at the No. 5 position to round out the match. Vidal took the opening set, 6-3 before his Crimson opponent Hayes rallied to force a third set with a 7-5 win in the second. The Tribe sophomore, who won his 30th career match, trailed 2-1 early in the tiebreaker, but took over winning eight of the final 10 points for the victory. Orre rolled to a 6-1 first set victory over Aba Omodele-Lucien, before claiming the match with a tiebreaker victory in the second set.

In the night cap against the Bison, W&M swept the doubles, including a pair of dominating 8-0 wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. At the top spot, Juneau and Vidal claimed their second match of the day upending Chris Brown and Michael Gee, improving to 16-10 on the year. The doubles victory was also the 50th of Juneau's W&M career.

Orre and Ramadan clinched the initial point of the match with an 8-0 triumph over George Diggs and Tonique Merrill at the No. 3 slot. Sophomores Varun Pandit and Ben Wirth rounded out the sweep with an 8-4 win over Omar Haloui and Chad Jones at the No. 2 position.

In singles action, Pandit won for the fourth time in five outings in quick fashion over Diggs, 6-0, 6-2, at the No. 4 slot. Juneau claimed his team-leading 19th singles win of the season and pulled the Tribe within a single victory of the team triumph, downing Gee, 6-3, 6-1, at the top spot. Redshirt freshman Kunal Pawa clinched the Tribe victory with his second singles victory of the year, 6-0, 7-5, over Merrill at the No. 6 singles position.

Vidal moved up to the No. 2 singles position against Howard and claimed his seventh straight victory, improving to 17-9 overall on the season. After claiming the first set, 6-4, Vidal reeled off the final three games of the second set in notching a 7-5 victory. Wirth and Orre claimed three-set singles victories to round out the W&M triumph. Wirth downed Jones, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, for his fifth singles win of the season, while Orre won his second match of the day in come-from-behind fashion, 5-7, 7-6 (0), 10-5, for his 12th victory of the year.

The Tribe will return to action when it travels to take part in the Blue Gray Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala., March 19-21. It marks the 11th season in which the Green and Gold has taken part in the event. Along with the Tribe, the Classic field includes No. 6 Tennessee, No. 30 Texas Tech, No. 20 Auburn, No. 22 Notre Dame, No. 23 Alabama, No. 26 Boise State, No. 28 Wisconsin, No. 34 Oklahoma State, No. 40 Oklahoma, No. 42 Fresno State, No. 45 VCU, No. 58 Middle Tennessee State, No. 66 Penn State, No. 75 Mississippi State and Hawaii.

#63 Harvard 4, #49 William and Mary 3
Singles
No. 1 - #65 Chris Clayton (Harvard) def. Keziel Juneau (W&M) - 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 - Alistair Felton (Harvard) def. Marwan Ramadan (W&M) - 6-4, 7-5
No. 3 - Sebastien Vidal (W&M) def. Michael Hayes (Harvard) - 6-3, 5-7, 10-4
No. 4 - Davis Mangham (Harvard) def. Dominic Pagon (W&M) - 6-3, 6-1
No. 5 - Ilja Orre (W&M) def. Aba Omodele-Lucien (Harvard) - 6-1, 7-6
No. 6 - Michael Kalfayan (Harvard) def. Varun Pandit (W&M) - 7-5, 6-4
Finishing Order: 4, 1, 2, 6*, 5, 3

Doubles
No. 1 - Juneau/Vidal (W&M) def. Felton/Hayes (Harvard) - 8-4
No. 2 - Omodele-Lucien/Mangham (Harvard) def. Orre/Pandit (W&M) - 8-5
No. 3 - Pagon/Ramadan (W&M) def. Klafayan/Clayton (Harvard) - 8-4
Finishing Order: 1, 3*, 2

#49 William and Mary 7, Howard 0
Singles
No. 1 - Keziel Juneau (W&M) def. Michael Gee (Howard) - 6-3, 6-1
No. 2 - Sebastien Vidal (W&M) def. Omar Haloui (Howard) - 6-3, 7-5
No. 3 - Ilja Orre (W&M) def. Chris Brown (Howard) - 5-7, 7-6 (0), 10-5
No. 4 - Varun Pandit (W&M) def. Geroge Diggs (Howard) - 6-0, 6-2
No. 5 - Ben Wirth (W&M) def. Chad Jones (Howard) - 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
No. 6 - Kunal Pawa (W&M) def. Tonique Merrill (Howard) - 6-0, 7-5
Finishing Order: 4, 1, 6*, 2, 5 , 3

Doubles
No. 1 - Juneau/Vidal (W&M) def. Brown/Gee (Howard) - 8-0
No. 2 - Pandit/Wirth (W&M) def. Haloui/Jones (Howard) - 8-4
No. 3 - Orre/Ramadan (W&M) def. Diggs/Merrill (Howard) - 8-0
Finishing Order: 1, 3*, 2

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