Men's Tennis Splits at Virginia Tech

Tuesday, February 25

Blacksburg, Va.

9 a.m.

James Madison University

St. Bonaventure

2/26/2014 2:20:00 AM | Men's Tennis

BLACKSBURG, Va., Feb. 25, 2014 – The James Madison men's tennis team split two non-conference matches at Virginia Tech on Tuesday. The Dukes rolled to a 5-2 win over St. Bonaventure in their opening match, before falling 7-0 to the 44^th-ranked Hokies.

JMU took four of the six singles matches against St. Bonaventure, improving to 3-4 after its two matches Tuesday. St. Bonaventure dropped to 2-10, while Virginia Tech improved to 6-3 with a pair of wins on the day.

After dropping the first set at No. 1 singles, freshman Sebastian Salinas (Merida, Mexico/Preparatoria Abierta SEP) responded with matching 6-2 scores in the final two sets to pick up the win. He is 6-4 in his last 10 matches and is just one win shy of a .500 record thanks to a 4-3 mark in the spring.

Freshman Niels Kathol (Bonn, Germany/Colegium Josephinum Bonn) is also one win away from evening his record as he and Salinas are both 9-10 overall. Kathol topped Trevor Haskell 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6 singles for his first dual win of the season.

The Dukes added victories at second and fourth singles. Sophomore Robert Stirling (Caboolture, Australia, St. Columbans College) improved to 3-4 in the spring with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Elliott Fanshel, while freshman Brett Moorhead (Midlothian, Va./Cosby) picked up his second career dual victory, sweeping Javier Ortiz 6-2, 6-3.

Freshman Miljan Ruzic (Sydney, Australia/St. Euphemia College) and Stirling improved to 8-5 overall and 3-2 in the spring. They were 8-4 winners against the Bonnies at No. 1 doubles and have won six of their last nine matches.

Moorhead and Salinas notched the other doubles win to clinch the point for the Dukes. The pair edged Trevor Haskell and TJ DeSanto 8-6.

JMU will play on its home courts for the first time this season when it hosts Duquesne on Wednesday, March 5, at 2:30 p.m.

JAMES MADISON 5, ST. BONAVENTURE 2
Singles Results
No. 1 – Sebastian Salinas (JMU) def. Eduardo Irizarry (SBU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 – Robert Stirling (JMU) def. Elliott Fanshel (SBU) 6-4, 7-5
No. 3 – Ramazan Nureev (SBU) def. Miljan Ruzic (JMU) 1-6, 7-6, 10-8
No. 4 – Brett Moorhead (JMU) def. Javier Ortiz (SBU) 6-2, 6-3
No. 5 – Celso de Vera Rehberger (SBU) def. Maxi Branth (JMU) 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 – Niels Kathol (JMU) def. Trevor Haskell (SBU) 6-1, 6-0
Doubles Results
No