Dukes Battle Close with ODU, Fall in Sun Belt Quarterfinals

Thursday, April 20

Peachtree City, Ga.

10 a.m.

James Madison University

Old Dominion

Dukes Battle Close with ODU, Fall in Sun Belt Quarterfinals

4/20/2023 1:34:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

By: Photo courtesy of the Sun Belt Conference

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. – A path to victory was there for No. 7 seed James Madison, as it took four matches into decisive third sets, but it couldn't get over the hump, falling 4-0 to No. 2 seed Old Dominion in the quarterfinal round of the Sun Belt Conference Men's Tennis Championship Thursday at the Peachtree City Tennis Center.

The Monarchs, ranked 70th nationally by the ITA, improved to 16-9 on the year and advances to Friday's semifinals, while the Dukes saw their season end with a 12-10 record.

ODU won the doubles point with victories on courts two and three, while claiming singles triumphs on courts two, three and five to move on in the tournament.

The Dukes ended the season with a winning record for the sixth time over the last seven seasons and has finished with at least a .500 win percentage in every year since the 2016-17 campaign.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Doubles Play

ODU gained the early advantage with a 6-2 triumph on court three, in which Francois Le Tallec and Cosme Rolland de Ravel downed Edson Sanchez and Canon Secord.
The doubles point was clinched on court two, where Luca Maldoner and Jakob Cadonau defeated Aathreya Mahesh and Francisco Sinopoli, 6-3.
The tandem of Holden Koons and Youssef Sadek was tied at 5-5 with Younes Lalami and Brandon Perez on court one when the point was secured.

Singles Play

JMU took a set lead on three courts and was playing into the third set on the final four courts before ODU rattled off three victories.
Rolland de Ravel doubled the Monarch lead on court three, capturing a 6-3, 6-2 win against Julian Lozano.
Sadek wouldn't go down without a fight, trailing 5-1 in the second set, but would eventually fall to Le Tallec on court three by a score of 6-2, 6-4.
The Monarchs clinched the match on court five, as Maldoner fended off Sanchez, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.
Three other bouts went unfinished, highlighted by Koons, who led Lalami 6-1, 4-6, 3-1 on court one.
Cadonau held a third-set advantage on Sinopoli, at 3-6, 6-2, 3-0, on court four, while it was a tight one on court six, where Nicola Vidal held a game lead against Mahesh, at 3-6, 6-4, 2-1.

Thank You Seniors

Thursday marked the final match at JMU for seniors Holden Koons and Canon Secord.
Koons wrapped up his career with 146 combined victories, going 88-36 in singles play and 58-38 in doubles. The program's first conference player of the year a season ago, he also never lost a home singles match, going 25-0 in Harrisonburg.
Secord capped off his career playing for his father and a program he's known his entire life after competing four years at Bridgewater. He accumulated 111 career wins between BC and JMU, going 56-12 in singles play and 55-31 in doubles action.