Vidal leads Tribe over Monarchs
In a rematch of last year’s CAA tournament semifinal, the College beat Old Dominion University 4-3 Saturday. The Tribe swept doubles before securing the victory after sophomore Sebastien Vidal downed the Monarch’s Matt Fawcett 6-2, 6-4.
“I played him last year in CAAs and beat him,” Vidal said. “[I kept] a lot of balls in play… he tends to miss a lot so I kind of just took advantage of his mistakes and errors and served out the match.”
The win over the Monarchs improved the College’s CAA record to 3-1 on the season and ended a four-game losing streak. After sweeping the doubles matches, Vidal, senior Dominic Pagon and junior Richard Wardell registered singles victories for the Tribe.
College blows out Spartans
Led by junior Keziel Juneau, the Tribe shut out Norfolk State University for its second win Sunday. Juneau garnered victories in both the top doubles and singles slots, battling back for a 3-6, 6-4, (10-4) singles victory after dropping the first set.
“Overall it was a pretty tough match,” Juneau said. “But I knew that if I was consistent enough I could come back. I changed my serve a little bit, and changed my rhythmn as well.”
The Tribe finished the regular season at 15-13 (3-1 CAA), while the Spartans fell to 4-7.
“We played a very emotional match in the morning and if you looked at our top two players, Juneau and [sophomore Sebastien] Vidal, they had nothing left in the tank,” Head Coach Peter Daub said. “It was sheer willpower not to be defeated that got them through.”
CAA tournament preview: College third seed
The Tribe heads into the CAA tournament as the third seed behind the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and no. 43 Virginia Commonwealth University.
“There is only one mentality [for CAAs] and that is to win,” Head Coach Peter Daub said. “We don’t have any other mentality. We are not looking to beat [just] a team, we are looking to go to the NCAAs.”
The College’s first-round match will pit the Tribe against James Madison University, which enters the tournament as the sixth seed. All matches are held in Norfolk, Va.
In last year’s championship, the Tribe fell to the Rams 4-1 in the final round. The College has made it to the championship game six times since 1999.
