Dukes Down ETSU 4-2 to Close Opening Weekend

Sunday, February 14

Harrisonburg, Va.

Noon

James Madison University

ETSU

2/14/2021 6:30:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison women's tennis used clutch performances down the stretch to upend ETSU, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon at East Campus Tennis Courts.

The Dukes improved to 2-0 on the year, while the Buccaneers dropped to 4-5. They also moved to 2-0 all-time against ETSU, as Sunday's win joined JMU's 1982 neutral-site win over the Bucs.

JMU won two of three doubles matches and claimed three of five singles matches that went the distance en route to victory.

Redshirt seniors Jona Roka and Alexis Franco won both of their respective matches, while redshirt sophomore Amanda Nord clinched the team match during singles play.

In doubles, ETSU took the early advantage with a win on court three before the Dukes came back with wins on courts one and two to take the 1-0 match lead.

The team of Franco and redshirt sophomore Natalia Nikolopoulou rolled to a 6-3 victory against Alejandra Morales and Mayya Gorbunova. The Dukes secured the doubles point with a 6-3 triumph by Roka and redshirt sophomore Kylie Moulin over Laylo Bakhodirova and Emilia Alfaro.

Moving to singles, ETSU took a 2-1 lead with wins on both courts one and three.

Roka evened the match at 2-2 with a three-set victory on court two. She took down Morales by scores of 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, to remain unbeaten in 2021. Franco gave JMU the lead back, at 3-2, as she cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win against Alfaro on court four.

Needing just one more win to clinch the match, Nord came through with a big performance in a second-set tiebreak at the #6 spot to give the Dukes the victory. She beat Yunuen Elizarraras by scores of 6-2, 7-6, closing out the afternoon with a 7-4 victory in the tiebreak.

QUOTING COACH SHELLEY JAUDON
"This was a great win for our team today. ETSU is a solid program and they have a lot of match experience this season. We played a really good doubles point that put us in a position to be successful today. This was a well-fought match between both teams, and ETSU really made us work hard to close it out."

UP NEXT
JMU is off for two weeks, returning to action on Sunday, Feb. 28 when it hosts George Washington at 1 p.m.