April 21, 2002

WILLIAMSBURG, VA - Top-seeded Virginia Commonwealth University captured its seventh consecutive CAA men's tennis championship with a 4-2 victory over #3 Old Dominion Sunday afternoon. The match began at Byrd Park in Richmond, but was completed at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center in Williamsburg after rain halted play.

The Rams, who are ranked 18th nationally, earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship with the win.

VCU earned the doubles' point after the number two team of Marton Ott/Mats Norin defeated ODU's Johan van Rooyen/Salman Mohammed, 8-6. The teams split the other two doubles matches, with the Rams' number one team of Pedro Nieto/Florian Marquardt winning 8-5 over Zoltan Csanadi/Izak van der Merwe and the Monarchs' number three team of Calin Milos/Patrik Binkowski gaining an 8-6 decision over Fernando Sanchez/Daniel Casquero.

VCU took a 3-0 advantage in the match as Nieto defeated Csanadi 6-4, 6-4 at number one singles and Casquero beat Binkowski at number four singles. ODU rallied back within 3-2, getting victories from number two player van der Merwe over Marquardt 6-4, 7-5 and number five player Mohammed over Sanchez 6-4, 6-4. The match ended at number three singles as Ott was a 6-4, 7-5 victor over Milos.

VCU (21-4 overall) will making its 10th straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The field for the 2002 championship will be announced on May 2.

#1 Virginia Commonwealth 4,  #3 Old Dominion 2


SINGLES:
#1 Pedro Nieto (VCU) def. Zoltan Csanadi - 6-4, 6-4
#2 Izak van der Merwe (ODU) def. Florian Marquardt - 6-4, 7-5
#3 Marton Ott (VCU) def. Calin Milos - 7-5, 6-2
#4 Daniel Casquero (VCU) def. Patrik Binkowski - 7-5, 6-0
#5 Salman Mohammed (ODU) def. Fernando Sanchez - 6-4, 6-4
#6 Julien Lousao (VCU) vs. Niklas Oskarsson (ODU) - did not complete


DOUBLES:
#1 Nieto/Marquardt (VCU) def. Csanadi/van der Merwe - 8-5
#2 Ott/Mats Norin (VCU) def. Johan van Rooyen/Mohammed - 8-6
#3 Milos/Binkowski (ODU) def. Sanchez/Casquero - 8-6