ODU DOUBLES TEAM IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
Old Dominion's doubles team of junior Izak van der Merwe and senior Zoltan Csanadi advanced to the second round of the 2004 NCAA Men's Tennis Doubles Tournament on Thursday afternoon, defeating Baylor's tandem of Benjamin Becker and Matias Marin, 6-3- 6-3, at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center of the campus of the University of Tulsa.
Van der Merwe and Csanadi were originally scheduled to take Texas A&M's second seeded doubles team of Lester Cook and Ante Matiijevic, but the Aggies' entry withdrew leaving the Monarch tandem to face Baylor's entry of Becker and Martin.
Van der Merwe and Csanadi, currently ranked 15th, are making their second NCAA Tournament appearance and the win over the Bears mark their first NCAA victory. Last year, Old Dominion's doubles entry fell to Georgia's team of Nicholas Boeker and Bo Hodge, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, in the opening round.
In the round of 16, van der Merwe and Csanadi will face Simon Rae and Damien Spizzo from the University of Tennessee at 2 p.m. Friday. For more information on the NCAA Men's Singles and Doubles Tournament including brackets and live stats, http://tulsahurricane.collegesports.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/tournament-central.html.
The Vols' duo, currently ranked ninth in the country, defeated Jonathan Endrikat and Brian Morton of UC-Irvine, 6-4, 6-3, in their first-round match.