NORFOLK, Va. – The 64th-ranked Old Dominion men's tennis team will begin NCAA Tournament play on Saturday morning with a 10 a.m. match against 17th-ranked Utah in a regional hosted by North Carolina at the Chewning Tennis Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A win for the Monarchs will put them against the winner of North Carolina and Drake on Sunday at 2 p.m. for a spot in the Super Regional weekend on May 12.
Live Stats and video
The match will have live stats and video stream.
Monarchs In NCAA Tournament
This marks the third time that ODU has advanced to the NCAA Tournament after conference titles in 2007 and 2018. ODU defeated Virginia Tech 4-3 in their first-ever NCAA match in 2007, then lost to Virginia 4-0. In 2018, ODU was sent to Columbia, South Carolina where they fell 4-1 to the host Gamecocks.
Cosme With a 50-piece
Freshman Cosme Rolland De Ravel joined the Monarchs this year and has shown no hint of first year nerves. The native of France leads the team in singles wins with a 25-9 record and has a combined 25-8 mark in doubles. He was named Second Team All-Sun Belt Conference in singles.
Dynamic Doubles Duos
After a slow start to the season, the Monarchs have found a trio of doubles tandems that have helped lead them to the NCAA Tournament.
Younes Lalami and Brandon Perez have held the top spot of the lineup for most of the spring season and are currently 16-9 this year. They made their mark in the fall advancing to the semifinals of the ITA Atlantic Regional, with a win over the ninth-ranked duo from Virginia, which enabled them to snag an at-large bid to the ITA Fall Nationals. They went undefeated in Sun Belt play this year.
Line two saw Jakob Cadonau and Luca Maldoner take the reigns during conference play and compiled an 8-1 record at that spot. They enter the NCAAs winning their last six matches. Francois Le Tallec and Cosme Rolland De Ravel have handled line three spot with a 16-3 record in dual matches and 17-4 overall. At line three, they're 15-1 this year and have won nine of their last ten matches.
Comeback Kids
Three key components to the 2023 season went through remarkable comebacks to be on the championship team.
Luca Maldoner tore his ACL in March of 2022 and fought through rehab to be able to get back on the court. He got the clinching point in the championship match win over South Alabama and is currently 9-5 this year.
Nicola Vidal was hit by a car that nearly took his life in the fall of 2021. He returned to action this spring winning his first match in the fall at the Princeton Tiger Invitational. Vidal played line six in the conference tournament and went 14-9 this year.
Francois Le Tallec played last year through a knee injury and earned a spot in the 2022 NCAA Singles Championships. This year he is 15-8 in singles and teamed with Rolland De Ravel for a team best 17-4 overall record in doubles.
Non Power Five Schools With Both In Tennis Tournaments
ODU, Drake, ETSU, Pepperdine, SC State, San Diego and Texas A&M Corpus Christi are the only non Power Five schools that have both teams in the NCAA Tournaments.
Team faced NCAA Tournament qualifying teams
ODU faced a challenging schedule with seven teams that earned bids to the 2023 NCAA Tournament: UTSA, VCU, Auburn, St. John's, Presbyterian, San Diego, SMU.
Scouting Utah
Utah comes into the tournament after a second-place finish in the Pac-12 Tournament falling to USC 4-2 in Saturday's final. Geronimo Espin Busleiman leads the team in wins this spring with an 18-4 mark, while Francisco Bastias and Patrik Trhac have 17 wins each. In doubles, Bastias and Bruno Caula have won 17 matches to lead the team.
Coach Quote
"We are excited to travel down to Chapel Hill. We had almost two weeks to prepare and get ourselves ready. Utah is obviously a strong team and barely missed out on hosting. We are going down there to win and looking forward to a tough battle," said ODU Head Coach Dominik Mueller.
Men's Tennis Tangles With Utah In NCAA Opener Saturday
