Dukes Drop Heartbreaker to Queens

Sunday, January 21

Greenville, S.C.

Noon

James Madison University

Queens

1/21/2024 5:29:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

GREENVILLE, S.C. – James Madison men's tennis dug itself out of a 3-0 deficit, tying the match at three-all, before dropping a 4-3 heartbreaker to Queens in a neutral-site match Sunday afternoon at Mickel Tennis Center.

The Royals captured their first win of the spring, improving to 1-2 on the year, while the Dukes fell to 1-2.

Queens won the doubles point in a tiebreak and proceeded to win consecutive singles bouts to grab a 3-0 lead before JMU registered three straight victories to knot the score at 3-3. The match came down to court five, where Filippo Verdese rallied past Markus Giersiepen, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

JMU got singles victories from Youssef Sadek on court one, Esteve Agusti on court four and Aathreya Mahesh on court six, while Giersiepen and Francisco Sinopoli claimed a doubles win.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Doubles Play

Giersiepen and Sinopoli opened doubles play with a 6-4 victory on court three against Griffin Lovern and Verdese.
Queens evened it up on court one, where Connor Enslin and Win Steveker downed Agusti and Mahesh by the same score.
The doubles point would be decided in a court-two tiebreak, in which Laurenz Blickwede and Ram Mude held Julian Lozano and Sadek without a point to win 7-6 (0).

Singles Play

Blickwede doubled Queens' lead with a 6-4, 6-4 victory on court two against Lozano.
The lead grew to 3-0 on court three, as Enslin fended off Sinopoli by a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 score.
Agusti got JMU on the board on court four, squeaking out a 7-6 (7),m 6-4 triumph against Mude.
Sadek also held off Steveker in a tight bout on court one, winning the match by scores of 7-6 (5), 6-4.
JMU tied things up at 3-3 on court six after Mahesh conceded just one game in a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win versus Lovern.
In the decisive match on court five, Giersiepen grabbed a set lead before Verdese rallied back to take the match, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, to give the Royals the match win.

UP NEXT
JMU returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 27 when it travels to Lynchburg, Va., to face Liberty. The opening serve is set for a noon start.