Dukes Tie Single-Season Wins Record, Roll into CAA Semifinals

Friday, April 20

Burlington, N.C.

1 p.m.

James Madison University

UNCW

Dukes Tie Single-Season Wins Record, Roll into CAA Semifinals

4/20/2018 4:15:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score

BURLINGTON, N.C. – Second-seeded James Madison tied a program record for wins in a season and advanced to its sixth straight conference semifinal following a 4-0 triumph Friday over seventh-seeded UNCW in the quarterfinals of the 2018 Colonial Athletic Association Women's Tennis Championship at the Burlington Tennis Center.

The Dukes improved to 20-3 on the year, while the Seahawks ended the year with a 1-12 mark.

In doubles action, freshman Anna Makarova and junior Emma Petersen defeated UNCW's Sarah Horn and Celeste Matute 6-4 at the No. 2 position, marking the duo's ninth win in their last 10 outings.

At No. 1 freshman Liz Norman and junior Abby Amos fell behind 4-0 to Sabrina Barisano and Maddy Muller-Hughes before reeling off wins in six straight games to come away with a 6-4 victory to clinch the doubles point and give the Dukes a 1-0 lead heading into singles.

Sophomore Jona Roka kept JMU rolling into singles play with a 6-3, 6-3 dispatching of Muller-Hughes at No. 3 to increase the Dukes' lead to 2-0. Makarova raced past Matute, 7-5, 6-2, at No. 2 for her 13th consecutive victory to extend JMU's lead to 3-0. The victory moved the freshman to 16-3 this spring and 23-7 overall on the academic year.

The Dukes later clinched the match at the No. 5 position, as sophomore Diane Flament won in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (2) against Rashika Ravindran. After cruising 6-3 in the opening set, Flament fell behind 5-2 in the second. She won four straight games to take a 6-5 lead and later beat Ravindram 7-2 in the tiebreaker to clinch the match for JMU.

WHAT THE WIN MEANS

Tied program record of 20 dual wins in a single season for the third time (1983-84, 1989-90)
Sixth straight appearance in the CAA semifinals (8th appearance overall)
Season sweep of UNCW (3rd consecutive win in series)
Most wins in a three-season stretch in program history with 55 wins

QUOTING HEAD COACH JAMES BRYCE
"I want to give a lot of credit to UNCW; they played a lot better than it did a few weeks back. We started off a bit tentative today in both doubles and singles, but once we got ourselves into the matches, we took care of business. We got over the first hurdle of the weekend and now our sole focus is on Charleston tomorrow afternoon."

UP NEXT
The Dukes will take on sixth-seeded College of Charleston in the CAA Championship semifinals tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.