LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee men's tennis team advanced to the 2026 Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship match behind a 4-1 win over Randolph on Saturday morning.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Generals (11-10) got on top first with a 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles from junior Sanjheev Rao and first-year Justin Ilie. The WildCats (13-6) evened it up, however, at No. 1 when Jacob Martin and Andreas Mulner won, 7-6 (3), to leave the doubles point up to Court 3.
- Sophomore Sahil Arora and first-year Pearce Lane also went into a tiebreak at No. 3 to decide the doubles point, and they prevailed, 7-6 (5), to give the Generals the one-point lead.
- First-year Henry Imorde (2) and Rao (6) had little trouble in winning their singles matches to give W&L a 3-0 lead. Imorde was a 6-4, 6-0 winner, before Rao won both his sets, 6-2.
- Randolph got a point back at No. 3 when Vincenzo Marchese won, 6-2, 6-2, but Arora clinched the win for the Generals with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory at No. 5.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- The Generals will compete in their 19th consecutive ODAC Championship match on Sunday.
- Rao continued his strong season at No. 6, improving to 10-7 at the position and 12-9 overall. Rao and Arora are tied for the most singles wins on the team (12).
- With their win at No. 3 doubles, Arora and Lane ran their record as a doubles tandem to 8-3, the most for any doubles duo for the Generals this season.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will face-off against second-seeded Shenandoah in Sunday's conference title match at 10:00 a.m. in Lexington.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
