Dukes Defeat Dragons

Saturday, April 13

Philadelphia, Pa.

11 a.m.

James Madison University

Drexel

4/13/2019 4:28:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – After a delayed start due to wet courts, James Madison men's tennis battled past Drexel in a 5-2 victory on Vidas Courts. The Dukes end the regular season with a 16-7 overall record and 3-2 CAA mark.

The Dukes 16-7 mark ties the third most wins in JMU history. JMU has amassed 16 wins each season for the past two seasons. "Drexel is a tough conference opponent and it always feels good to beat the team that beat you in the conference tournament the year before," said assistant coach Jason Sinkoff. "Guys are playing with a lot of confidence in singles and in doubles and we look forward to the conference tournament."

DOUBLES
Paul Mendoza and Tate Steinour extended their win streak to three straight when teaming up in doubles play. The duo picked up their 13^th win together when taking down Drexel 6-3 at court two.

Drexel took the advantage at court two winning 6-4, leaving it all up to court one for the doubles point. Pierre Kohler and Alvaro Arce battled at court one and Kohler served up an ace for the 6-4 win. It marked the two's eighth doubles win at court one and 16^th win when playing together.

The Dukes took a 1-0 advantage heading into singles play.

SINGLES
Arce quickly got to work at court two winning the first set 6-0 and then 6-1 in the second to give the Dukes a 2-0 lead over Drexel early in the match. Arce has now won nine matches when playing at court two in singles play.

The Dragon's came right back into the match with Alvaro Cruz Chamorro snapping his two-match losing streak when playing at singles four by winning 6-2, 6-1 over Damon Roberts. JMU still held onto a 2-1 lead in the match with JMU up a set on three of the four remaining courts.

Gonzalo Adis battled in the first set after being tied 5-5 to take set one 7-5 over Xandy Hammitt. He then pushed JMU to a 3-1 lead with a 6-2 victory in the second set. The win marked his 19^th victory on the season.

Steinour went to a third set with Gustav Wogen at singles six after defeating Wogen 6-4 in the first set and falling 6-3 in the second. Steinour went down 3-0 early in the third set and ended up falling 6-3 as Drexel fought back in the match as JMU led 3-2.

Mendoza also went to a third set with Sanil Jagtiani at court three after winning the first set 6-3 and falling in the second set 6-4. He battled through and led 2-1 going up to serve and came up big clinching the match with a third set win 6-3. Mendoza won his 20^th match of the season.

After falling in the first set 6-2, Kohler battled in set two and won the second set in tiebreaker fashion 7-6 (7-5) to force a third set tiebreak. He won the tiebreaker 10-2 to add a point to JMU's win over Drexel 5-2.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
Coach Steve Secord: "Solid way to end our regular season. We know that to advance in the championship we will need to battle on every court all match long. We are excited for the tourney."
Assistant Coach Jason Sinkoff: "We knew doubles point was going to be super important today. It was a close battle on all 3 courts and our guys kept their composure and played the big points well. In singles, Drexel is a team that gets a lot of balls back and makes you play long points. We stayed patient and waited for our opportunities to attack. Paul played a very smart 3rd set. Kept his balls deep and made his opponent run all over the court. With the 5-3 lead serving for match he stuck to high percentage tennis and continued to do what had been working the whole match."

UP NEXT
The Dukes will play in the CAA Tennis Tournament beginning on Thursday, Apr. 18 at Elon. JMU will learn their seeding and opponent on Monday, Apr. 15.