Men's Tennis Rallies Past Liberty 4-3

Tuesday, March 20

Harrisonburg, Va.

TBA

James Madison University

Liberty

3/20/2012 10:23:00 PM | Men's Tennis

HARRISONBURG, Va., March 20, 2012 - The James Madison men's tennis team rallied past Liberty 4-3 on Tuesday. The Dukes were trailing 3-1 until three straight singles victories propelled Madison past the Flames. With the win, JMU snapped a seven-match Liberty win streak and improved to 6-6 on the season while Liberty fell to 10-4.

Trailing 3-1 in the match with three contests left Ryan Pool (Melbourne, Australia/Braemar(Chattanooga)) began the Dukes comeback. At No. 2 singles Pool topped the Flames' Shea Thomas in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, to earn the Dukes' second point. Florent Sentenac (Borderes, France/Lycee Theophile Gautier(Auburn Montgomery)) then tied the match at the No. 4 singles spot, topping Dillon Segur, 6-4, 6-3.

With the match now tied at three apiece Hugo Ramadier (Rome, Italy/Lycee Francais Chateabriand (Northern Arizona)) completed the Dukes come from behind victory with a straight-set defeat of Tristan Stayt, 6-4, 6-4, in No. 5 singles.

JMU fell behind early in the match after dropping the doubles point. In the top spot, LU's Siim Tuus and Giancarlo Lemmi defeated the Dukes' Bertrand Moulin (Lyon, France/Aux Lazaristes Minimes(Wayne State)) and Greg Vladimirsky (Coral Springs, Fla./Broward Virtual) 8-1. In No. 2 doubles, Pool and Sentenac held an early 5-4 advantage over Thomas and Stayt but the Flames' duo stormed back to earn an 8-5 victory, clinching the doubles point for Liberty.

Tommi Nissinen (Oulu, Finland/Kastellin Lukio) and Ramadier defeated Mandeep Yadev and Wayne Harrell 8-5 at the No. 3 spot to round out doubles play.

Nissinen then tied the match at one, defeating LU's Harrell in the No. 6 singles position, 6-2, 6-1.

Liberty, however, appeared as though they would run away with the match, picking up points in both the No. 1 and No. 3 singles matches to take a commanding 3-1 lead. Tuus topped Vladimirsky in the top spot, 6-4, 6-1, and Lemmi upended Moulin, 6-4, 6-3, in the three hole before JMU won the final three in a row to earn the win.

The Dukes return to action on Sunday when they host Longwood at 11 a.m. The Lancers are 5-6 on the season after defeating Presbyterian 4-3 on March 14. JMU has the opportunity to bring its record over .500 for the first time since defeating East Carolina on Feb. 26.

JMU 4, Liberty 3
March 20, 2012

Doubles:
1. Tuus/Lemmi (LU) def. Moulin/Vladimirsky 8-1
2. Stayt/Thomas (LU) def. Pool/Sentenac 8-5
3. Nissinen/Ramadier (JMU) def. Yadav/Harrell 8-5

Singles:
1. Tuus (LU) def. Vladimirsky 6-4, 6-1
2. Pool (JMU) def. Thomas 6-1, 6-3
3. Lemmi (LU) def. Moulin 6-4, 6-2
4. Sentenac (JMU) def. Segur 6-4, 6-3
5. Ramadier (JMU) def. Stayt 6-4, 6-4
6. Nissinen (JMU) def Harrell 6-2, 6-1

Order of Finish:
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Singles: 6, 1, 3, 2, 4, 5