Dukes Notch Biggest Win Against Radford in Over 20 Years

Wednesday, February 16

Harrisonburg, Va.

3 p.m.

James Madison University

Radford

Dukes Notch Biggest Win Against Radford in Over 20 Years

2/16/2022 8:40:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison men's tennis continued its hot start to the spring season and used clutch play down the stretch to upend in-stat foe Radford 6-1 on Friday evening at the East Campus Tennis Courts.

The Dukes moved to 5-0 in dual-match play, while the Highlanders fell to 1-3. The win avenged last season's 7-0 loss at Radford and it was the largest margin of victory against the Highlanders since 1999.

JMU opened the match with wins on courts one and two to grab the early 1-0 lead.

The team of William Karpinski and Oscar Hernandez dominated from start to finish on court two, cruising 6-0 versus Konstantinos Raptis and Guilherme Severin to gain the doubles advantage.

After the Highlanders grabbed a 6-3 win on court three, the match would be decided in a close bout on court one. JMU's Holden Koons and Youssef Sadek were able to win decisive points late en route to a 7-5 victory against Demis Taramonlis and Andres Silva.

That included overcoming a break-point opportunity while tied at 5-5 to gain the lead before breaking the Radford duo in the ensuing game to clinch the doubles point.

The Dukes quickly took a 2-0 lead in singles play with a fast win on court two by Karpinski, as he picked up a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Severin.

Sadek extended the lead to 3-0 with a close three-set win over Raptis. He claimed the match on court three by scores of 7-5, 5-7, 6-1.

After Radford captured its first point with a triumph on court four, JMU put the match on ice with an absolute thriller on court one. In a match lasting more than two-and-a-half hours, Koons was able to fend off Taramonlis in a third-set tiebreak, winning the contest, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3).

Koons led 5-1 in the second set with triple match point before Taramonlis won four straight points, sparking a 4-0 run and leading to the Highlander comeback. In the third set, Taramonlis jumped out to a 3-1 lead before Koons won three straight games to grab a 4-3 advantage. However, Taramonlis jumped back in front, at 6-5, before Koons won his service game to decide the match in a tiebreak.

Taramonlis took the opening point, but Koons answered with six in a row to bring him on the brink of victory. After a pair of points for Taramonlis, Koons put the match away on a nearly one-minute rally, taking the match, 7-3.

The win for Koons avenged his fall-tournament loss to Taramonlis at the Elon Fall Invitational, in which he fell 6-0, 6-3 on the opening day of the event.

JMU extended the lead to 5-1 with a comeback win in a super tiebreaker by Edson Sanchez on court five. After dropping the first set, he dominated the rest of the way, downing Aditya Balsekar, 2-6, 6-0, 1-0 (7).

The match closed out on court six, with Mathieu Josserand dispatching Robert Hagen, 6-3, 6-4, for the final margin.

QUOTING COACH SECORD
"This is probably one of the biggest wins we've had in a while. Radford is a very good team, top to bottom, they fight for each other and you could feel that they were never out of it. Ultimately, I'm really proud of the guys when in the past the momentum swings the other way, we have a hard time getting it back our way. Just about everybody did that today. They trusted themselves and stayed in it. I'm super proud, we're going to have more matches like this, so we have to building on this."

UP NEXT
JMU hits the road this weekend for a pair of matches in Youngstown, Ohio. The Dukes face Northern Illinois Saturday at 1:30 p.m., followed by a showdown with host Youngstown State Sunday at 10 a.m.