Dukes Win 4-3 Thriller over William & Mary

Friday, March 7

Harrisonburg, Va.

9 a.m.

James Madison University

William & Mary

3/7/2025 6:32:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison men's tennis battled past William & Mary for its first win over the Tribe in nearly 13 years with a thrilling 4-3 victory on Friday afternoon at the East Campus Tennis Courts.

JMU (4-4) used a pair of doubles wins and singles triumphs on courts two, five and six to end an 11-match skid to William & Mary (3-4).

It was JMU's first win over W&M since a 4-1 victory back on March 31, 2012. Dating back to their years as league members in the Colonial Athletic Association, the Tribe, who had been a perennial conference power, had won 27 of the past 28 matchups until Friday.

With the match all tied at 3-3, the bout would come down to the court five matchup between JMU's Dennis Wiebe and W&M's Alexander Karman.

Up a set and tied at 5-5, Wiebe found himself down 30-love on Karman's service game before coming back to break Karman and snag a 6-5 lead. Wiebe then went down love-30 in his service game before reeling off four straight points to earn a 7-5, 7-5 victory to clinch the match and 4-3 win.

Earlier in the match, JMU took the early 1-0 lead with doubles wins on courts one and two. The team of Esteve Agusti and Zach Fleishman downed Nikita Bortnichek and Raz Katz, 6-2, on court one for the doubles advantage.

After the Tribe won 6-3 on court three, the Dukes closed out doubles play with a 6-3 triumph on court two from Edson Sanchez and Aurelien Schmitt against Sean Joseph and Gur Trakhtenberg.

W&M squared the match at 1-1 with a straight-set win on court one, as Trakhtenberg won a tight bout with Schmitt, 7-5, 6-4. Schmitt had multiple set points in the first set before Trakhtenberg rallied and ultimately held him off in the second frame.

The Tribe gained their only lead of the day a minute later on court three, as Bortnichek downed Fleishman, 6-3, 6-3. The lead lasted merely seconds before Agusti, the only JMU to go 2-0 on the day, finished the job on court two with a 6-4, 6-2 decision versus Joseph.

In the second half of singles play, JMU made it a 3-2 lead on court six, as Harrison Lee pulled away late in each set to take down Katz, 6-3, 6-3, for his first career dual-match singles win.

The match would be tied again at 3-3 when Albert Hansen rallied from a set deficit to defeat Sanchez, 2-6, 6-0, 6-1. That set up the court-five thriller, in which Wiebe closed out the match for JMU.

JMU returns to action on Thursday, March 13 when it hosts UNCG at Hillside Courts at 1 p.m.

JMU 4, William & Mary 3
Doubles Results
Court 1: Esteve Agusti/Zach Fleishman (JMU) def. Nikita Bortnichek/Raz Katz (WM), 6-2
Court 2: Edson Sanchez/Aurelien Schmitt (JMU) def. Sean Joseph/Gur Trakhtenberg (WM), 6-3
Court 3: Albert Hansen/Alexander Karman (WM) def. Harrison Lee/Dennis Wiebe (JMU), 6-3

Singles Results
Court 1: Gur Trakhtenberg (WM) def. Aurelien Schmitt (JMU), 7-5, 6-4
Court 2: Esteve Agusti (JMU) def. Sean Joseph (WM), 6-4, 6-2
Court 3: Nikita Bortnichek (WM) def. Zach Fleishman (JMU), 6-3, 6-3
Court 4: Albert Hansen (WM) def. Edson Sanchez (JMU), 2-6, 6-0, 6-1
Court 5: Dennis Wiebe (JMU) def. Alexander Karman (WM), 7-5, 7-5
Court 6: Harrison Lee (JMU) def. Raz Katz (WM), 6-3, 6-3

Order of Results: Doubles (1, 3, 2*), Singles (1, 3, 2, 6, 4, 5*)