May 11, 2007

The University of Richmond women's tennis team was knocked out of the NCAA Tournament after falling 4-0 to No. 15 William & Mary.

"A lot of credit to William & Mary," stated Richmond head coach Mark Wesselink. "There is a reason they are ranked so high in the country. They are really just a strong team. We brought our best game but it just wasn't quite enough."

In doubles action, sophomores Ashlee Vosters and Pamela Duran were leading at the no. 2 position before their match was canceled following Tribe wins at the no. 1 and 3 spots, securing the doubles point for William & Mary.

"No. 1 doubles was a really great match," said Wesselink. "The No. 1 doubles team in the country beat us 8-4, but it was just some beautiful doubles by our two seniors (Robin Carter and Beatrice Grasu). I was really proud of them."

In singles play, Carter, Vosters and Xenia Schneider dropped straight-set matches at the no. 2, 4 and 5 spots, while Duran, Grasu (leading her match) and Jessica Hubbard were unable to finish their matches as the Tribe took a 4-0 victory. Carter's loss came to the No. 66 player in the country.

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The Charlotte 49ers fell at #13 Wake Forest, 4-0, in their first-ever NCAA Tournament match.

The match of the day was at number one singles where Charlotte's Roy Sichel, who is ranked #101 in the nation, and Wake Forest's Todd Paul, who is ranked #10 in the country, were tied 6-6 in the first set when the match was halted due Wake Forest claiming the overall victory. Paul and Sichel each broke the other ones serve twice in the set.

"I am very proud of our team for the season that we had," Charlotte coach Jim Boykin said. "Wake Forest is a very talented team. They were just stronger then we were at certain times in the match. It was great that Roy got to a tiebreaker in the first set in his match against one of the top players in the country. .Again I am so very proud of the way our team has played this entire season. We won the A-10 championship and earned our program's first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament which is fantastic."

Wake Forest started the match off by claiming the doubles point with victories at number one and three doubles. At number one doubles, Charlotte's Felix Bernhoerster and Ryan Johnson lost to Wake Forest's Paul and Mariusz Adamski, who are the ninth ranked doubles team in the country, 8-3. At number three doubles, Charlotte's Brad Clinard and Aljoscha Jelinek lost to Wake Forest's Steve Forman and Cory Parr, 8-2. At number two doubles, Charlotte's Darren Mansell and Sichel had their match with Wake Forest's Andrew Hamar and Charles Sartor halted with the Demon Deacons doubles team leading the match, 7-2.

Wake Forest advanced to the second round after winning three singles matches. At number four singles, Charlotte's Jelinek lost to Wake Forest's Forman, 6-3, 6-0. At number five singles, Charlotte's Dorian Host lost to Wake Forest's Jason Morgenstern, 6-1, 6-2. At number six singles, Charlotte's Clinard lost to Wake Forest's Andew Brasseaux, 6-3, 6-3. At number two singles, Charlotte's Mansell had his match with Wake Forest's Parr, who is ranked #69 in the ITA singles rankings, halted after Parr won the first set, 6-3. At number three singles, Charlotte's Johnson had his match with Wake Forest's Hamar halted after Hamar won the first set, 6-3.

While the season is over for the 49ers as a team, Sichel's season continues as he is set to compete for the second straight season in the NCAA Singles Championship which begins May 23 at the University of Georgia.