Dukes Drop Season Opener to ECU

Sunday, January 20

Greenville, N.C.

noon

James Madison University

ECU

1/20/2019 5:06:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- James Madison men's tennis opened its spring dual season with a 4-3 loss to East Carolina (1-0) on Sunday afternoon.

Juniors Paul Mendoza and Tate Steinour picked up a 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles, but that was the only doubles victory of the day for JMU, resulting in a 1-0 deficit going into singles play.

"In doubles today, we played alright, but didn't show enough team energy until late into the sets," assistant coach Jason Sinkoff said. "Tomorrow, we'll come out with a lot of energy the very first point and carry that momentum into singles play."

After sophomore Alvaro Arce won his match at No. 2 singles 6-4, 6-3, and Mendoza fell at No. 3 singles 6-2, 6-3, the Dukes were down 2-1 as Pierre Kohler entered a third set. The senior had won the first set 6-4, but lost the second set 6-3.

"There was only one break in the second set, and a couple of really decisive points," Kohler said. "My mistake of the second set was to not take my chances on my service games."

Kohler won the third set 6-3 to knot the match at two points apiece.

"The change I made was to be further back on the return, and that gave me more margin on the return games," Kohler said. "I gave a lot less free points away by doing that. So, I ran more but made him make a lot more unforced errors."

Junior Damon Roberts beat Ronny Georgi 6-3, 6-4, but sophomore Gonzalo Adis fell 6-4, 6-3 to Javier Renones to tie the match at 3-3. Freshman William Karpinski won his opening set at No. 6 singles 6-4, but dropped the final two sets 6-3, 6-2 making the Dukes 0-1 on the season.

RESULTS
Doubles
1. Paul Mendoza/Tate Steinour (JMU) def. Vlad Anghel/Wisse Jonker (ECU) 6-3
2. Austin Allen/Diogo Marques (ECU) def. Pierre Kohler/Alvaro Arce (JMU) 6-4
3. Javier Renones/Simon Labbe (ECU) def. William Karpinski/Gonzalo Adis (JMU) 6-1

Singles
1. Pierre Kohler (JMU) def. Vlad Anghel (ECU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
2. Alvaro Arce (JMU) def. Diogo Marques (ECU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Wisse Jonker (ECU) def. Paul Mendoza (JMU) 6-2, 6-3
4. Damon Roberts (JMU) def. Ronny Georgi (ECU) 6-3, 6-4
5. Javier Renones (ECU) def. Gonzalo Adis (JMU) 6-4, 6-3
6. Simon Labbe (ECU) def. William Karpinski (JMU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (3,2,1,4,5,6)

QUOTING COACH STEVE SECORD
"Going in we wanted the guys to compete the entire match and work on thinking critically and working through tough times during the match. Even though we lost it was a good, tough match to push us at less than full strength in a few areas. I'm glad we get back on the court tomorrow against a solid Citadel team and expect to improve in certain areas."

UP NEXT
The Dukes (0-1) will take on The Citadel in Greenville, N.C. tomorrow at 9 a.m.