Men's Tennis Downs Old Dominion 4-2

Thursday, March 10

Montgomery, Ala.

TBA

University of Louisville

Old Dominion

March 11, 2005 | Men's Tennis

March 11, 2005

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - - Men's Tennis Downs Old Dominion 4-2 The University of Louisville men's tennis team defeated Old Dominion 4-2 Friday at the Blue-Gray Invitational.

The Monarchs claimed the doubles point to start the match as the team of Izak van der Merwe and Rodrigo Souza edged Louisville's Jakob Gustafsson and Jeremy Clark 9-8 at the top seed and Nathanial Grover and Henrique Cancado combined to beat Tony Teufel 8-6 and Damar Johnson 8-6 at No. 3. The Cards' Octavian Nicodim and Slavko Radman topped ODU's Eidy Igarashi and Adriano Mello 8-1 at the two-seed.

In singles action, Louisville's Johnson, No. 87 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, defeated No. 25 van der Merwe 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 at the top seed. Gustafsson's 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 win over Cancado at No. 3 proved to be the match-winner for the Cardinals. Nicodim defeated Mello 6-2, 6-0 at No. 4 and Berrido topped Harel Srugo 6-3, 6-4 at the six-spot.

ODU's other point came at the No. 5 seed as Souza defeated Nicolas Houard 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5.

"Even though this was a great team win, we had some fantastic individual efforts today," said U of L head coach Rex Ecarma. "Damar Johnson defeated a two-time All-American and is playing with newfound confidence. Jadob Gustafsson clinched the match for us. Octavian Nicodim even things up at 1-1 after we lost the doubles p oint. Jhonny Berrido showed great composure and performed well off the bench. ODU is a very successful program and a win over them will be impressive in NCAA tournament selection."

The Cards (12-7) will play Colorado Saturday at noon (EST).

No. 35 Louisville 4 - No. 64 Old Dominion 2SinglesNo. 1 - #87 Damar Johnson (UL) d. #25 Izak van der Merwe (ODU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1No. 2 -  Slavko Radman (UL) vs. Henrique Cancado (ODU) 7-5, 6-7, 3-2 (susp.)No. 3 - Jakob Gustafsson (UL) d. Eidy Igarashi (ODU) 6-2, 6-0No. 4 - Octavian Nicodim (UL) d. Adriano Mello (ODU) 6-2, 6-0No. 5 - Rodrigo Souza (ODU) d. Nicolas Houard (UL) 6-3, 6-4No. 6 - Jhonny Berrido (UL) d. Harel Srugo (ODU) 6-3, 6-4DoublesNo. 1 -  van der Merwe/Grover (ODU) d. #33 Gustafsson/ Jeremy Clark 9-8No. 2 -  Nicodim/Radman (UL) d. Igarashi/Mello (ODU) 8-1No. 3 - Grover/Cancado (ODU) d. Tony Teufel/Johnson (ODU) 8-6