Dukes Drop 4-3 Heartbreaker to VCU

Friday, February 28

Harrisonburg, Va.

3 p.m.

James Madison University

VCU

2/28/2020 9:21:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison women's tennis dropped a heartbreaker to VCU on Friday, falling 4-3 at the East Campus Tennis Courts.

VCU improved to 6-5 on the year, while the Dukes saw their six-match win streak come to an end, falling to 8-3.

In doubles play, VCU took the early advantage with a 6-4 win by Noumea Witmus and Paola Diaz Delgado on court three, but the Dukes tied it up moments later with a 6-3 victory on court two by senior Jona Roka and sophomore Daria Afanasyeva against Melissa Ifidzhen and Shivani Manjanna.

With doubles to be decided on court one, JMU led 5-4 but the Rams staved off two match points to keep the contest alive. The teams would play in a tiebreak, and the sophomore tandem of Daniela Voloh and Natalia Nikolopoulou controlled the race to seven throughout, downing Gabriela Davidescu and Luminita Tutunaru, 7-2, to win the match 7-6.

After VCU tied the match with a singles win on court two, Voloh, who once trailed 5-3 in the first set on court three, rallied for a 7-5, 6-0 victory against Manjanna after winning 10 straight games to give JMU a 2-1 match lead.

The Rams won back-to-back matches to take a 3-2 lead. Delgado claimed a 7-5, 6-3 win on court two against Roka, and Witmus held off sophomore Amanda Nord in three sets on court six by scores of 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

Sophomore Kylie Moulin extended her singles win streak to 10 straight with a thrilling 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5 win over Davidescu on court four to knot the match up at 3-3. The match came down to a three-set battle on court five, with VCU's Kanako Yano slipping by Nikolopoulou by scores of 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

MATCH NOTES

Roka and Afanasyeva have won six straight doubles matches.
Voloh and Nikolopoulou extended their doubles win streak to five in a row.
Moulin remained unbeaten this spring in singles play, moving to 9-0. She's also won her last 10 dating back to the fall.
Voloh has also won five consecutive singles matches and improved to 9-1 in the spring.

QUOTING HEAD COACH SHELLEY JAUDON
"Matches like tonight are what it's all about. This was a great college tennis match between two good teams and I'm proud of the way we competed. We always talk about doing whatever we have to in order to give ourselves a chance, and we did that tonight, even though it didn't go our way in the end. No doubt we will get better from tonight and use this experience to help us the rest of the season."

UP NEXT
JMU is back home on Sunday, March 1 when it hosts another Commonwealth foe in George Mason. The opening serve is set for 2 p.m. at the East Campus Tennis Courts.