Holden Koons Advances to Main Draw at ITA All-American Championships

Saturday, October 2

Tulsa, Okla.

All Day

James Madison University

ITA All-American Championships

Holden Koons Advances to Main Draw at ITA All-American Championships

10/6/2021 10:31:00 AM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. – James Madison men's tennis junior Holden Koons advanced to the main draw at the ITA Men's All-American Championships at Tulsa's Case Tennis Center.

Koons went 2-1 during qualifying, which included an upset of a seeded player, to receive one of the field's four wild card spots into the main draw, consisting of 64 singles players. He's the first JMU player to ever advance to the main draw at the major ITA event.

He opened play in Tulsa on Monday, taking down Tulsa's Daniel Siddall by scores of 6-2, 6-2. He won his second match of the week on Tuesday in come-from-behind fashion, securing a 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory against Texas A&M's Pierce Rollins, who was seeded in the top 32 of the field.

Despite dropping a 6-4, 7-5 decision to USC's Stefan Dostanic, ranked #15 in the field, Koons received a "lucky loser" spot in the main draw.

In the round of 64, Koons fell in a highly competitive match to #4 Finn Reynolds from Ole Miss by scores of 7-6(4), 6-3. Koons held a 5-4 lead in the first set before Reynolds rallied past him to move on to the final 32. He closed out his week in Tulsa with a 6-2, 6-2 setback against a very solid opponent in South Carolina's Toby Samuel.

In addition to Koons, senior William Karpinski also competed in prequalifying at the All-American Championships, going 1-1.

He opened play last Saturday with a tough loss in a super tiebreaker to North Carolina's Logan Zapp. He dropped his first-round bout by scores of 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (12-10).

On Sunday, Karpinski bounced back in the consolation bracket with a convincing 6-0, 6-3 triumph against Tulsa's Matthan Tharakan.

QUOTING HOLDEN KOONS
"This has been an exciting opportunity to challenge myself against many of the best players in college tennis. I feel that I'm learning and building my game with each match. I'm Looking forward to what is next. Go Dukes!"

QUOTING ASST. COACH JASON SINKOFF
"The ITA All-American Championships is one of the biggest collegiate tournaments of the year. The best players from the best colleges are represented in the draw. For Will and Holden to win matches at this event is an awesome accomplishment and really shows that hard work pays off. They both came in with a chip on their shoulders and the goal to show that JMU belongs amongst the best schools in the country.

Holden Koons qualifying for the main draw is something that's never happened at JMU before. He has played really high-level tennis to get here and has shown he is not only a force in the CAA but is able to compete with the best players in the country."

UP NEXT
JMU returns to action as a team this weekend, as it travels to Richmond to compete at the River City Tennis Open from Oct. 8-10.