CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia Commonwealth University got caught in the vortex of a Penn State twister yesterday and was blown out of the NCAA Men's Division I Tennis Championships.

After dropping the doubles point without much resistance, the Rams quickly found themselves down 3-0 when singles started and wound up losing 4-zip in the opening round of the Charlottesville regional at the Snyder Tennis Center.

"We've done a pretty good job all year long of each player keeping his eye on each court," said VCU assistant coach Romain Ambert. "It's mentally very difficult to be that down that quickly and knowing that there is no margin for mistake.

"They basically jump in our throat, and we never were able to get out of it."

In the other first-rounder, top-ranked and unbeaten Virginia (29-0) coasted to a 4-0 victory over outmanned Fairleigh Dickinson and will meet the Nittany Lions (16-11) today at 11 a.m. for the right to advance to the Sweet 16 in Tulsa, Okla., on Friday.

While the Cavaliers were expected to dispose of Fairleigh Dickinson without breaking a sweat, the VCU-Penn State match should have been a lot closer. The Rams (19-8) came into it ranked 27th. The Nittany Lions were No. 39.

But after capturing the doubles point with wins at numbers one and three, Penn State went up 3-0 with easy victories at first No. 4 singles and then No. 1, where Michael James of Clifton, Va., (and Centreville High) pummeled Martin Schulhauser 6-0, 6-2.

"They jump on us," said Damien Lacombe, who was the verge of splitting sets at No. 3 singles when the match ended. "They were screaming like crazy and we were not responding.

"They won the doubles and they were very pumped up after that. They deserved it. But we could have won it. When they stopped the match, I had three set points to win the second set. Alex Israel had three match points [at No. 5] and Sebastien Ripoll [No. 6] was also up.

"So we could have come back. We only needed to get one point and who knows?"

Penn State, which clinched it when Adam Slagter beat Thibaut Charron 6-3, 6-4 at No. 2, finished fifth in the Big Ten and was an at-large selection. The Rams had earned an automatic berth by winning the Colonial Athletic Association title.

"It's important for a couple of guys to get up early [in singles], especially after you get the doubles point, to try and keep the momentum going," said James.

"I wouldn't say it wasn't a tough match. My score, it might have looked bad, but it was a war out there. I was fighting the whole time. The [final] score might have been closer if we had played all of them."

Not surprisingly, the bottom part of U.Va.'s lineup quickly wrapped up its match after the Cavaliers claimed the doubles point for a 1-0 edge.

Freshmen Sanam Singh (No. 4) and Michael Shabaz (No. 5) and senior Ted Angelinos (No. 6) raced to easy triumphs in ending Fairleigh Dickinson's season at 12-9.

By the time 4-6 finished, one of top three matches was still in the first set and the other two had barely started the second.

"That's one of our greatest strengths is how much depth we have," U.Va. coach Brian Boland said. "All those guys down low have played so well all year. These last three weeks, I really do believe we have improved quite a bit, but we're going to have step it up to another level [today]."

Singh, who is 24-3 in dual matches, needed less than an hour to complete his 6-0, 6-0 romp over Priit Gross.

"With a team like this, we're just so deep and we always take so much pressure off the top three guys," Singh said. "Me at four and Michael at five and Teddy at six have been so solid throughout the season, and we show that again today.

"It's so much easier for the top three to play. They have so much confidence in us, and we have confidence in them, too."

PENN STATE 4, VCU 0

Doubles: 1. No. 32 James/Lynch (PSU) d. No. 51 Lindgren/Ripoll 8-4; 2. Dwyer/Bourchier (PSU) led Charron/Delemark 5-2 DNF; 3. Slagter/St. Maurice (PSU) d. Schulhauser/Siska 8-6. Penn State wins double point.

Singles: 1. No. 60 Michael James (PSU) d. Martin Schulhauser 6-0, 6-2; 2. Adam Slagter (PSU) d. Thibaut Charron 6-3, 6-4; 3. Brendan Lynch (PSU) led Damien Lacombe 6-4, 3-5 DNF; 4. James Dwyer (PSU) d. Emil Lindgren 6-3, 6-1; 5. Alex Israel (VCU) led Eddie Bourchier 6-3, 5-1 DNF; 6. Sebastien Ripoll (VCU) led Guillaume St. Maurice 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 DNF

Order of finish: Doubles -- 1, 3; Singles -- 4, 1, 2

Records: Penn State (16-11), VCU (19-8)
VIRGINIA 4, FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON 0

Doubles: No. 1 Devvarman/Huey (UVa) d. Gordon/Girling 8-2; 2. Shabaz/Inglot (UVa) led Stephen/Blanco 7-3 DNF; 3. Barrick/Singh (UVa) d. Gross/Eddins 8-1. U.Va. wins doubles point.

Singles: 1. No. 1 Somdev Devvarman (UVa) led Philip Stephen 6-2, 0-1 DNF; 2. No. 28 Treat Huey (UVa) led Matt Gordon 5-4 DNF; 3. No. 17 Dominic Inglot (UVa) led Josh Girling 6-3, 2-0 DNF; 4. Sanam Singh (UVa) d. Priit Gross 6-0, 6-0; 5. Michael Shabaz (UVa) d. Kyle Eddins 6-1, 6-3; 6. Ted Angelinos (UVa) d. Keiichiro Adachi 6-0, 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles -- 3, 1; Singles -- 6, 4, 5

Records: Virginia (29-0), Fairleigh Dickinson (12-9)