Dukes Take Down Coastal in Big Senior Day Triumph

Saturday, April 8

Harrisonburg, Va.

Noon

James Madison University

Coastal Carolina

4/8/2023 4:14:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison sent its seniors out in style, using a big doubles comeback and solid play down the stretch in singles to upend Coastal Carolina, 4-0, in Sun Belt Conference men's tennis action on Saturday afternoon at Hillside Courts.

The Dukes improved to 11-8 on the year and 3-4 in Sun Belt play, while the Chanticleers dropped to 10-9 overall and 1-4 in the Sun Belt.

The Dukes celebrated seniors Holden Koons and Canon Secord prior to the opening serve, and both Dukes went unbeaten on the day. Koons won both his doubles and singles matches, and Secord was a big part in JMU clinching the doubles point.

Youssef Sadek also went 2-0, as he picked up a straight-set singles victory while teaming with Secord in the doubles rally. Aathreya Mahesh capped off the scoring with the clincher in his singles bout.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Doubles Play

The teams split 6-3 decisions on courts one and two before court three saw a huge comeback and a tiebreak to decide the opening point.
Coastal's Carlos Berna Ruiz and Maj Tomac gave the visitors the early advantage, claiming a 6-3 victory on court two against Julian Lozano and Edson Sanchez.
The Dukes evened things minutes later, as Koons and Francisco Sinopoli downed Steve Mundt and Lucas Wayenburg by the same score on court one.
On court three, Sadek and Secord overcame an early 4-1 deficit and staved off three match points before storming back for a 7-6 (6) triumph versus Ayuya Ata and Guilherme Toresan.
Down 4-1, the JMU duo reeled off three straight games to square the match at 4-4. They later faced two match points while down 5-4 but broke the CCU tandem to tie it again at 5-5.
The doubles point would be decided in a tiebreak. JMU led 5-3, but three consecutive Coastal points put JMU against the wall again. Sadek and Secord answered with three in a row to win the breaker, 8-6.

Singles Play

The match was tight early on in singles, as Coastal initially led on five of six courts midway through first sets. Coastal would go a set up on two courts, but the Dukes would rally on three of them to take control.
Koons completed his career at home with a 6-1, 6-3 win against Berna Ruiz on court one to double the lead.
Strong finishes in each set pushed Sadek past Wayenburg, 6-4, 6-3 on court three to extend the lead to 3-0.
Mahesh trailed 5-4 in the opening frame on court six but rallied, earning wins in the final nine games to defeat Neil O'Connor, 7-5, 6-0, to clinch the win.
Sinopoli was a game away from victory on court four, as he led Ata, 6-4, 5-0, when the match concluded.
Lozano forced a third set and was just ahead of Tomac, 1-6, 7-5, 1-0, when the match was abandoned.
At the end, Coastal led on just court five, where Toresan was up 6-2, 5-4 on Sanchez.

MATCH NOTES

With the win, JMU secured a first-round bye into the Sun Belt Championship quarterfinals, which will be played in two weeks in Peachtree City, Ga.
Holden Koons capped off an amazing career at home, as he never lost one singles match in Harrisonburg.
Koons also matched his single-season career high with his 29th singles victory of the year on Saturday.
Youssef Sadek moved his singles win streak to four matches, and Sinopoli won his third straight singles bout.

QUOTING COACH STEVE SECORD
"Great to get another conference win, but I'm particularly happy for the seniors to both go out with wins in their last home match. Getting the doubles point was huge, since we were down on three and just kept believing and gutted out the point. We started slow at some spots in singles, but I was impressed with the way the guys figured out how to flip the momentum and get the team win. We will get some rest and keep working on finishing strong with our last few regular-season matches and look forward to the Sun Belt Championship. Go Dukes!"

UP NEXT
JMU returns to action on Tuesday, April 11 when it travels to Radford for its non-conference finale. The opening serve is set for 2 p.m.