March 26, 2005

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Old Dominion men's tennis team won two matches in the Hampton Roads "Elite 8" Collegiate Tennis Team Tournament , blanking Longwood, 7-0, and Morgan State, 5-0. The wins improved the Monarchs mark to 8-10 on the season.

The Monarchs opened play by defeating Longwood in straight sets in five singles matches and sweeping the doubles point. Among the singles winners was Eidy Igarashi (São José do Rio Preto, Brazil) who only let up two games in his No. 3 singles win. The freshman Monarch defeated the Lancers' Tobias Guennel, 6-1, 6-1.

Also recording a singles win against Longwood was #29 Izak van der Merwe (Kempton Park, South Africa) who posted a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Rashko Patikov at No. 1 singles. At No. 2 singles, Henrique Cancado (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) earned a 6-2, 7-5, victory over Chris Newman, while at No. 4 singles, Adriano Mello (Londrina, Brazil) blanked Mani Barajas-Alexander in the first set, 6-0, and followed with a 6-4 set to win the match. Additionally, Rodrigo Souza (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) played his way to a No. 5 singles win, 6-2, 6-2, over Ian Young.

The Monarchs captured all three doubles matches. Van der Merwe and Souza combined for an 8-4 win over Young and Patnikov at the top spot. Meanwhile the duo of Juliano Cirimbelli (Balneário Camboriú, Brazil) and Igarashi downed Alexander and Guennel, 8-5, at No. 2 doubles and ODU's Mello and Cancado picked up an 8-3 win at No. 3 doubles against Newman and Ross McBee.

Old Dominion followed by defeating Morgan State in five singles matches, again all in straight sets. Rodrigo Souza this time allowed just two sets to his opponent, defeating the Bears' Michael Harper, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4 singles.

Other winners included #29 van der Merwe with a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles over Marcus Ngbea and Igarashi with a 6-1, 6-4 win against Joaquin Turley at No. 2 singles. Mello earned a 6-1, 6-4 decision at No. 3 singles over Morgan State's Andre Pince, while at No. 5 singles, Dom Manilla (Greenwood, Va./)made her spring debut with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Matthew Townes.

The men's team will play UNC-Wilmington in the championship match tomorrow at 8:30 am at the Owl Creek Tennis Center in Virginia Beach .

Old Dominion 7, Longwood 0

Singles:
No. 1 #29 Izak van der Merwe (ODU) def. Rashko Patnikov (LU): 6-3,6-0
No. 2 Henrique Cancado (ODU) def. Chris Newman (LU): 6-2,7-5
No. 3 Eidy Igarashi (ODU) def. Tobias Guennel (LU): 6-1,6-1
No. 4 Adriano Mello (ODU) def. Mani Barajas-Alexander (LU): 6-0,6-4
No. 5 Rodrigo Souza (ODU) def. Ian Young (LU): 6-2,6-2

Doubles:
No. 1 Izak van der Merwe/Rodrigo Souza (ODU) def. Ian Young/Rashko Patnikov (LU): 8-4
No. 2 Juliano Cirimbelli/Eidy Igarashi (ODU) def. Mani Barajas-Alexander/Tobias Guennel (LU): 8-5
No. 3 Adriano Mello/Henrique Cancado (ODU) def. Chris Newman/Ross McBee (LU): 8-3

Old Dominion 5, Morgan State 0

No. 1 #29 Izak van der Merwe (ODU) def. Marcus Ngbea (MSU): 6-2,6-0
No. 2 Eidy Igarashi (ODU) def. Joaquin Turley (MSU): 6-1,6-4
No. 3 Adriano Mello (ODU) def. Andre Prince (MSU): 6-1,6-4
No. 4 Rodrigo Souza (ODU) def. Michael Harper (MSU): 6-1,6-1
No. 5 Dom Manilla (ODU) def. Matthew Townes (MSU): 6-4,6-2
No. 6 Jon Antle (ODU) vs. Dia Campbell (MSU): 7-5,5-5, unfinished