Dukes Drop Competitive Bout to Spiders

Thursday, March 2

Richmond, Va.

2 p.m.

James Madison University

Richmond

3/2/2023 6:41:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – After 19 days between matches, JMU struggled to find a rhythm, dropping a tough 5-2 decision at Richmond on Thursday afternoon at the Westhampton Tennis Complex.

The Spiders improved to 7-3, while the Dukes fell to 5-3. The win for Richmond snapped a five-match win streak in the series with JMU, as the hosts turned in its first victory over the Dukes since April 11, 2017.

For JMU, Julian Lozano was the lone player to go 2-0 with a win in both doubles and singles, while Holden Koons won at the top singles spot in a matchup featuring 2022 JMU graduate William Karpinski, who's a grad student at UR.

Richmond won two of three doubles matches and claimed four of six singles matches. That included the Spiders claiming all four tiebreak situations throughout the afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Doubles Play

Richmond gained the advantage with a decisive 6-0 win by Sebastian Miano and Davis Wiley on court three against Youssef Sadek and Francisco Sinopoli.
Moments later, JMU evened things on court two, as Lozano and Edson Sanchez cruised to a 6-1 victory versus John Walsh and Alex Wernink.
The doubles point would be decided on court one in a tiebreak, with UR's Karpinski and Daniel Kliebhan coming away with a 7-6 (3) triumph over Koons and Aathreya Mahesh.

Singles Play

Richmond quickly doubles the lead to 2-0 on court six, as Wernink earned a 6-1, 6-3 win against Sanchez.
Koons got JMU on the board by defeating his best friend and former teammate, Karpinski. He took the match on court one by a score of 6-4, 6-2.
UR extended the lead to 3-1 on court two, as Kliebhan held off a late surge from Sinopoli in a 6-2, 7-6 (1) victory.
The Spiders clinched the match over on court four when Walsh slipped past Sadek, 6-4, 6-4, in a back-and-forth bout.
JMU earned its second point with a comeback win on court three. After dropping the first set and trailing 4-3 in the third, Lozano won the match's final three games to upend Wiley, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The match concluded on court five, with Miano squeezing by Mahesh, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5).

MATCH FACTS

Holden Koons and Julian Lozano extended their singles win streaks to four games apiece, as both are now 6-2 during dual-match play.
JMU has switched up doubles tandems throughout the fall and spring, but Thursday marked the sixth straight doubles victory for Lozano and Edson Sanchez this academic year. The duo is 12-2, including 3-0 at the No. 2 doubles slot.

UP NEXT
JMU returns home on Saturday, March 4 when it hosts former conference foe William & Mary. The opening serve is set for 1 p.m. at Hillside Courts.