Dukes Open Fall Season at UNCG Fall Invitational

Friday, September 16

Greensboro, N.C.

James Madison University

UNCG Fall Invitational

9/18/2022 1:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

GREENSBORO, N.C. – James Madison men's tennis opened its fall-tournament slate this weekend at the UNCG Fall Invitational (Sept. 16-18), capturing a combined 11 victories at the UNCG Tennis Courts.

The event was played with a hidden-dual format. Friday featured doubles play against three different teams, Saturday began singles play against two schools and Sunday wrapped up with a singles bout against one team.

Senior Holden Koons went unbeaten in singles action, going 3-0, while freshman Julian Lozano picked up the first two singles wins of his career. On the doubles side, sophomore Edson Sanchez won two of his three matches, while Lozano and fellow freshman Aathreya Mahesh each notched their first career doubles wins.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Friday, Sept. 16 – Doubles Play
JMU won three doubles matches, earning one versus Davidson and taking two of three from Richmond. The Dukes also faced Presbyterian, dropping all three bouts.

The team of Sanchez and Lozano took down Davidson's Maxwell Kachkarov and William Clark by a score of 6-2. Against the Spiders, the tandem of Mahesh and sophomore Youssef Sadek defeated John Walsh and Davis Wiley, 6-3. Sanchez and graduate Canon Secord also took a 7-5 win from Sebastian Miano and Mark Taranov.

Saturday, Sept. 17 – Singles vs. Gardner-Webb & UNC Asheville
The Dukes collected wins in three of seven matches against Gardner-Webb and two out of six from UNC Asheville to complete Saturday's singles action.

Koons eased by GWU's Eduardo Dias, 6-3, 6-2, while Sadek claimed a 7-5, 6-2 victory against Chrisjan Van Wyk. Lozano earned his first singles triumph in super-tiebreak fashion, rallying past Numa Lemieux-Monette by scores of 5-7, 6-1, 1-0 (8).

Against UNC-A, both wins came in a super tiebreaker, as Koons held off Harry Thursfield, 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (5), and Sanchez came back for a 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (5) win versus Rafa Serra. JMU also dropped a pair of super tiebreakers to give the Bulldogs a 4-2 mark against JMU.

Sunday, Sept. 18 – Singles vs. Campbell
JMU closed out the three-day event by claiming three singles wins over seven matches against Campbell.

Koons capped off his unbeaten singles weekend with a narrow 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (7) super-tiebreak win against Damien Nezar. Lozano took down Benjamin Maes, 6-0, 6-3, and Mario Pena earned his first win of the fall in a 6-4, 7-5 decision against Will Thompson.

QUOTING ASSISTANT COACH BASTIEN HUON
"This weekend was a great opportunity to compete. We are coming home with a lot of takeaways, and our guys are eager to get better."

UP NEXT
JMU will split its roster next weekend, traveling to two events. Four Dukes will travel back down to the Triangle for the Elon Fall Invitational, while three JMU players will head to Richmond for the Richmond City UTR Open, hosted by VCU.