Full U.Va. Fall Classic Results

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Senior Daniel Grauel of the Norfolk State men's tennis team played his way to the final of his respective bracket, highlighting the weekend for NSU at the U.Va. Fall Classic from Friday through Sunday at the Snyder Tennis Center.

Of the three players representing NSU, Grauel advanced the farthest, going all the way to the finals in the Gold Singles bracket. He started off with an easy 6-1, 6-0 victory over Aleh Drobysh of VCU, and followed that up with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Nick Barker of George Mason.

After a walkover win against Damon Niquet of William & Mary, Grauel fell in a hard-fought final to Florin Radu of Princeton. Grauel actually picked up the first-set win, 6-2, before Radu won the second set, 6-1, and the third-set tiebreaker, 10-5.

In the Orange Singles bracket, senior Pascal Domnik won three of his four matches. Like Grauel, Domnik also won his first two, including a come-from-behind, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Conner Huertas of East Tennessee State. Prior to that victory, Domnik opened things up with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Louis Ishizaka of VCU.

Eventually bracket champion Stefan Vinti of Cornell, a nationally ranked player a year ago, knocked off Domnik 7-5, 6-4 in the semifinals. Domnik responded in the third-place match with another comeback victory, 2-6, 6-3, 10-4 over Robert Stirling of James Madison.

NSU's third senior on the team, Igor Braga, also competed at U.Va. in the White Singles bracket. He started his tournament off with a 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 win over Daniel Wright of Bucknell. Virginia Tech's Florian Nicoud, the bracket champion, defeated Braga in the quarterfinal round, 6-2, 6-0.
 
Braga knocked off J.B. Gough of Davidson, 6-2, 6-3, before succumbing to Liberty's Diego Castano in the fifth-place match. Braga took the first set, 6-2, but Castano was too much in the next two sets, 6-3 and 10-6.

"The guys continued to show they can compete with top competition," said head coach Worth Richardson, noting that VCU and East Tennessee State finished as ranked teams last year. "I was very impressed with the heart and poise they showed this weekend. Now it is time to rest up and train for the ITA Regional."

Braga and Domnik also competed in the White Doubles bracket. They started off with an 8-2 win over Bucknell's Octavio Canibe and Ben Gerber. The East Tennessee State pair of Rogerio Ribeiro and Ismael Merino then downed the NSU duo by an 8-2 score. Braga and Domnik finished things up with an 8-6 victory over James Madison's Miljan Ruzic and Sebastian Salinas.

Grauel, meanwhile, teamed up with VCU's Ishizaka in the Black Doubles bracket. There, they pulled out an 8-7(5) win over the ODU tandem of Javier Jover and Samuel Perelman. After falling by the exact same 8-7(5) score to Barker and Aaron Capitel of George Mason, Grauel and Ishizaka dropped the third-place match to Virginia Tech's George Cartledge and Rafael Ribas, 8-6.

The Norfolk State trio will compete next at the ITA Regional at Virginia from Oct. 17-22.