JMU Shuts Out Navy in Home Opener

Saturday, February 4

Harrisonburg, Va.

Noon

James Madison University

Navy

2/4/2023 5:23:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison men's tennis opened its home slate in style, taking down Navy 7-0 on Saturday afternoon at East Campus Tennis Courts.

The Dukes improved to 3-2 on the year, while the Midshipmen dropped to 5-5. JMU also improved to 4-6 against Navy, dating back to the 1983-84 season. It was JMU's third straight victory in the series and its first time ever holding Navy without a point in a match.

JMU opened the match taking two of three doubles bouts to claim the early 1-0 advantage. On court two, the team of Julian Lozano and Edson Sanchez rolled to a 6-1 victory against J.J. Etterbeek and Matthew McNair.

After Navy took a 6-1 decision on court three, JMU's court-one tandem of Holden Koons and Youssef Sadek clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 triumph versus Aniketh Ayinala and Nathan Nguyen.

In singles play, JMU won on all six courts, which included four straight-set decisions and one comeback victory.

JMU quickly doubled its lead to 2-0 with a dominant performance on court one, as Koons downed Etterbeek, 6-0, 6-1. Lozano earned his first career home singles win on court two, besting Ayinala in a competitive match, at 6-4, 6-4.

Sadek had a clutch performance down the stretch to clinch the match for JMU on court three. After dropping the first set but leading 4-3 in the second set, the sophomore rattled off eight straight wins to defeat Nguyen, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.

Shortly after, Sanchez breezed by McNair by scores of 6-0, 6-3 on court four to extend the Dukes' advantage to 5-0. Aathreya Mahesh collected his first career home triumph on court five, cruising to a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Andres Ballesteros.

To close the match, Mario Pena capped off the 7-0 win by taking his matchup on court six in a super tiebreaker. He held off Eric Liu by scores of 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (3).

Match Facts

Holden Koons improved his career combined record to 128-64 (.667), including a 77-31 (.713) mark in singles play.
JMU freshmen Julian Lozano and Aathreya Mahesh each picked up their first career singles victories at home on Saturday. Additionally, Lozano also claimed his first doubles home triumph.
In the three total matches played on court one (closest to the venue's entrance), JMU players conceded a combined six games to Navy, with two in doubles and four over the two singles bouts.

Quoting Head Coach Steve Secord
"Playing back-to-back is good, because hopefully we can take some of the things we did well and continue those and look at things we need to work on in put it in real-match situations quickly. When things weren't always working, they did a good job knowing what they needed to do, listening to the coaches, and trusting the process and themselves that it was going to work out. They battled through some nerves being the first home match with a great crowd. Overall, I'm pleased with the result."

Up Next
JMU is back in action at home tomorrow on Sunday, Feb. 5 when it hosts Mount St. Mary's. The opening serve is set for 1 p.m. at East Campus Tennis Courts.