Dukes Drop Season Opener at Virginia Tech

Wednesday, February 24

Blacksburg, Va.

2 p.m.

James Madison University

Virginia Tech

2/24/2021 4:58:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Despite an early lead for James Madison in its season opener, Virginia Tech used five straight-set victories to down the Dukes 5-2 in men's tennis on Wednesday afternoon at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center.

The Hokies improved to 5-2 on the year, while the Dukes dropped to 0-1.

JMU opened the match taking two of three doubles matches to grab the early 1-0 lead.

The team of Oscar Hernandez and William Karpinski downed Tech's Matthis Ross and Hugo Maia 6-3 on court three for the quick advantage. After a win on court two for the Hokies, the doubles point came down to a tiebreak on court one.

JMU's Holden Koons and Paul Mendoza outlasted Ryan Kros and Alex Ribeiro, 7-6, winning the tiebreak by a 7-2 margin. It marked the first time since 2001 that JMU scored a team point against Virginia Tech.

In singles play, the Hokies responded with five straight-set victories to clinch the match.

Hernandez, playing at the #5 singles spot, kept it close in the second set before ultimately falling 6-2, 7-5 to Ryan Fishback.

Koons closed out the afternoon with a come-from-behind triumph at the #1 singles spot. After dropping the first set in a tiebreak, he forced a third set, in which he slid past Matthis Ross in the super tiebreaker by an 11-9 score. Koons won the match by scores of 6-7 (8), 6-3, 1-0 (11-9).

QUOTING COACH STEVE SECORD
"First of all it, was awesome to be competing again. We were excited to get the doubles point, the guys competed well. Singles was a bit tougher. Virginia Tech is solid from top to bottom and have played a bunch of matches. I'm happy with the effort, but we need to work on a few things to get the end result where we want. We have more solid opponents and opportunities ahead of us. When we get all three doubles and six singles clicking at the same time, we will be dangerous. Go Dukes!"

UP NEXT
JMU hits the road on Saturday, Feb. 27, as it travels to the capital city to take on VCU. The opening serve is set for 1 p.m.