Jan. 28, 2009

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The George Mason men's tennis team traveled to No. 64 William and Mary (5-2, 1-0) this weekend for their first tennis match of the spring season. The Tribe defeated the Patriots 7-0 at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center in Williamsburg, Va.

In double action the Tribe easily defeated the #1 and #3 Patriot teams, 8-0. The highlights for Mason were at #2 doubles as Jordan Lipstock and Jorge Osuna battled but lost 8-5. The pair got off to a slow start in the first game, in which Lipstock lost serve, but the team pick up the level of play, and held their own until at 7-5 W&M broke serve for the match. The play was at a consistently high level with Osuna and Lipstock moving aggressively at the net. "Our #2 doubles showed great promise today against a strong team" said coach Quam.

Singles highlights included #4 singles where Lipstock raced out to a 3-0 lead over Wardell with a consistent and steady game that elicited errors from his opponent. At this point Lipstock began to stray from his game plan, spraying enough balls out of the court to allow Wardell to take the set and eventually the second set with the same score, 6-3.

Also in singles action at #2 Freshman Osuna played to a 6-3, 6-2 loss. However the match was much closer than the score indicated with most points coming only after a hard fought, and often long, baseline battle. At #1 singles Juneau of W&M quickly gain the lead, and never let Fitzgerald get into the match, with Fitzgerald losing 6-1, 6-0. "I expect this will be a motivating factor for Brian going in to next weekends match with Liberty," says coach Quam.

Dan Schneider at #3 singles managed to right himself after losing the first set 6-0, and competed well in the 6-3 second set. At #5 and #6 singles Arjun Sanghvi and Imran Nayeem competed gamely but were overwhelmed by the #64 ranked Tribe.

According to Quam, Osuna and Lipstock proved the most competative in singles and doubles for Mason against the highest ranked team they will see prior to the CAA Tournament.

#64 William and Mary 7, George Mason 0
Singles
No. 1 - Keziel Juneau (W&M) def. Brian Fitzgerald (Mason) - 6-1, 6-0
No. 2 - Marwan Ramadan (W&M) def. Jorge Osuna (Mason) - 6-3, 5-2
No. 3 - Dominic Pagon (W&M) def. Dan Schneider (Mason) - 6-0, 6-2
No. 4 - Richard Wardell (W&M) def. Jordan Lipstock (Mason) - 6-3, 6-3
No. 5 - Ben Wirth (W&M) def. Arjun Sanghvi (Mason) - 6-0, 6-2
No. 6 - Kunal Pawa (W&M) def. Imran Nayeem (Mason) - 6-1, 6-1
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 5*, 4, 6, 2
Doubles
No. 1 - Pagon/Wirth (W&M) def. Fitzgerald/D. Schneider (Mason); 8-0
No. 2 - Juneau/Pandit (W&M) def. Lipstock Osuna (Mason); 8-5
No. 3 - Pawa/Wardell (W&M) def. Sanghvi/Nayeem (Mason); 8-0
Order of Finish: 3, 1*, 2