NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion University men’s tennis team will play host to the Bison from Howard University on Sunday, January 19, at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center. This will be the first competition of the spring season for both teams.
Old Dominion’s junior, Carlos Lopez Villa is currently ranked No. 30. In October, Lopez Villa became only the second male in school history to capture the Regional Single’s crown and the first ever since the ITA downsized to only 12 regions.
In November, Lopez Villa advanced all the way to the 2013 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., where he advanced to the second round before falling to eventual Indoor National Champion from UCLA, Clay Thompson.
In other news around the ODU program, it was recently announced that head coach Aljosa Piric will be a captain in the upcoming Davis Cup for Bosnia.
Howard
The Bison finished last season 1-9 and 1-3 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Howard is led by sophomores Myron Davis and Niles Kendall. Davis finished last season with a 1-6 singles record, while Kendall completed the year with a 1-7 singles record. Overall the Bison went 8-38 in singles and 5-22 in doubles matches last season.
In 1984, Larry Strickland was hired as the head men tennis coach at Howard. He has continued to serve as Howard’s head tennis coach for 28 years. Strickland started the women’s program in 1986 and has served as the only women’s head coach at Howard University for 26 years. His teams have won nine Mid- Eastern Athletic Conference Championships.
During Strickland’s tenure as head coach, he has coached over 70 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Scholar All Americans. He has had four teams achieve the ITA Team All-Academic Team award. Strickland has been named MEAC Coach of the Year 11 times. He received USTA/ITA National Community and Campus Outreach Award for 2011-2012.
Meet the 2014 Old Dominion University Monarchs
Darragh Glavin (So. - Newbridge, Kildare, Ireland)
Jonas Kuwert (So. - Jesteberg, Germany)
Carlos Lopez Villa (Jr. - Madrid, Spain)
Zvonimir Podvinski (So. - Zagreb, Croatia)
Dante Terenzio (Sr. - Stamford, Conn.)
Keon Wiggermans (Fr. - Houtrib Monnickendam, Neth.)
Head Coach: Aljosa Piric
Assistant Coach: Sander Koning
Volunteer Coach: John Brinkman
Meet the 2014 Howard University Bison
Devin Coakley (Fr. - Whiteville N.C.)
Myron Davis (So. - Hyattsville, Md.)
Laguna Foster (Fr. - Norfolk, Va.)
William Jones (Fr. - Raleigh, N.C.)
Ismael Kaouache (Fr. - Casablanca, Morocco)
Nile Kendall (So. - Atlanta, Ga.)
Nico Sorrell (So. - Detroit, Mich.)
Head Coach: Larry Strickland
Assistant Coach: Skip Walker
Looking Ahead for the Tennis Monarchs
Old Dominion will be back on the courts on Saturday, January 25, when they will host the University of Richmond at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center. Action is set to begin at 9 a.m.
Be sure to keep up with all the latest news regarding ODU Men’s Tennis on Facebook; as well as follow @ODUMensTennis on Twitter.