Dukes Topple Lehigh in Neutral Match at USTA National Campus

Tuesday, March 14

Orlando, Fla.

8 a.m.

James Madison University

Lehigh

Dukes Topple Lehigh in Neutral Match at USTA National Campus

3/14/2023 11:12:00 AM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

ORLANDO, Fla. – James Madison men's tennis took command early and used strong play on nearly every court to down Lehigh 6-1 in a neutral-site match Tuesday morning at the USTA National Campus.

The Dukes improved to 7-4 on the year, while the Mountain Hawks dropped to 6-6.

JMU moved to 3-0 all-time against Lehigh, with Tuesday's win marking series' largest margin of victory. The Dukes previously beat LU 5-2 in Altamonte Springs, Fla., in 2020 and 5-4 at home in 1986.

Three players went 2-0 in Holden Koons, Aathreya Mahesh, and Youssef Sadek, while Julian Lozano and Edson Sanchez notched singles triumphs. JMU won the doubles point and secured wins in the first five singles matches.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Doubles Play

JMU clinched the doubles point with victories on courts three in one, while court two went unfinished.
On court three, Mahesh and Sadek needed just 21 minutes to upend Michael Bukhalo and Steven Nazaroff, 6-1.
The Dukes secured the 1-0 match lead over on court one, where Koons and Francisco Sinopoli downed Jeremy Learner and Jordan Paul, 6-2.

Singles Play

JMU won five singles matches, while Lehigh claimed one bout. With the match in hand, the matches on courts three and five were contested in a third-set super tiebreaker to 10.
Lozano doubled JMU's lead on court two, as he dispatched Learner by scores of 6-1, 6-4, needing just 59 minutes to capture his seventh win over his last 10 outings.
Moments later, Mahesh turned in the most-lopsided victory, taking a 6-2, 6-1 win from Aristotelis Bezianis on court six.
The match was clinched on court four, as Sadek claimed a 6-3, 6-0 triumph against Paul. It was tight early, at 3-2 in the first, before Sadek won nine of the final 10 games.
Koons added to the lead on court one, earning a 6-1, 6-3 win against Matt Kleiman to make it a 5-0 advantage.
Sanchez dropped the opening frame but bounced back to force a third and won the super. He rallied past Jackson Morash, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (7), on court five.
In the final match on court three, Sinopoli gained a set lead, but Marc Blekhman came back to earn the lone point for Lehigh with a 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (5) win.

MATCH FACTS

Holden Koons won his seventh straight singles match, improving to 9-2 this spring.
Edson Sanchez claimed his third straight singles victory, moving to 5-1 at the No. 5 spot in dual matches.
Through 11 matches, JMU players have a 65% singles win percentage this spring after turning in a 48% clip in fall tournaments.

UP NEXT
JMU opens Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday, March 18 at Troy. The opening serve is set for 11 a.m. ET (10 a.m. CT) at the Lunsford Tennis Complex.