HARRISONBURG, Va. – Shaking off the rust from a week's worth of inclement weather and a match cancellation, Longwood took James Madison to the wire but fell 4-3 to the Dukes Sunday afternoon at the East Campus Tennis Courts.
James Madison (7-2), leveraged a doubles-point win and three early singles wins at Nos. 3, 5 and 6 to avenge last year's 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Lancers (4-3) in Farmville.
The match was Longwood's first since this past Sunday's 6-1 win at George Mason, as the Lancers had a planned home opener Friday against North Carolina A&T rained out.
The lengthy storm that washed away Longwood's Friday bout subsided early Sunday, allowing Longwood to return to the court for a Sunday showdown against the Commonwealth rival Dukes, who entered the match winners of six of their past seven matches.
However, the weather still managed to infiltrate James Madison's indoor court, forcing a break in play due to high winds that battered the Dukes' bubbled dome.
"This was a tough loss playing on an indoor court. It is fast, and it is hard when you have to wait for matches to come onto the court," Longwood head coach Medina Alvarez said. "We lost in doubles and we came back and had a lot of chances. But this is about emotions and attitude, and tennis is a sport that is based on the decisions you make during that match.
"We are waiting for people to miss instead of embracing the idea of winning. We are up in many of these matches, and then we lose them because we change our mentality when we're winning."
Kicking off the day James Madison's indoor courts was Longwood's No. 2 doubles pair of senior
Julian Farthing and sophomore Raisai Sakai, which dropped a 6-4 defeat to the Dukes' Gonzalo Adis and William Karpinski. James Madison's Paul Mendoza and Tate Stelnour followed with a 6-4 defeat over Longwood's No. 3 duo of Marc Casanovas and
Guillermo Cagigas to give the Dukes a 1-0 lead.
James Madison rode that momentum into singles play, staking a 2-0 lead on Mendoza's 7-5, 6-3 defeat of Farthing at No. 3 before the Lancers stormed back to tie the match at 2-2 following a 7-6, 6-3 win at No. 1 from Lancer ace
Amadeo Blasco and a follow-up 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 comeback from Longwood No. 2
Guilherme Sergio.
Longwood's all-time singles winning percentage leader and Big South Player of the Week, Blasco's singles win pushed his singles record to 13-2 this season and 63-15 for his career, keeping him atop Longwood's all-time singles winning percentage record and pushing him closer to teammate Farthing for second place on the all-time singles win leaderboard.
However, James Madison No. 5 Adis put the Dukes back on top after Blasco and Sergio's singles wins, defeating Sakai 6-1, 7-6 to reclaim a one-point lead. From there, Karpinski defeated Casanova 6-4, 7-6 to clinch the match.
Cagigas wrapped up the match with a 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 win over Damon Roberts at No. 4, but the win from Longwood's freshman standout came too late.
"Our goal for today was to win like the last year, but unfortunately we couldn't do it," Sergio stated. "We look to come back ready to solve what happened, and we are looking to bring more energy to the courts next match."
The Lancers will have a chance to bounce back this Friday, March 1, against another Commonwealth foe, Virginia State in Buena Vista, Va.
#GoWood
James Madison University 4, Longwood 3
2/24/2019 at Harrisonburg, Va (East Campus Tennis Courts)
Singles competition
1. BLASCO, Amadeo (LWU) def. Pierre Kohler (JMUM) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 |
| 2. SERGIO, Guilherme (LWU) def. Alvaro Arce (JMUM) 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 |
| 3. Paul Mendoza (JMUM) def. FARTHING, Julian (LWU) 7-5, 6-3 |
| 4. CAGIGAS, Guillermo (LWU) def. Damon Roberts (JMUM) 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3 |
| 5. Gonzalo Adis (JMUM) def. SAKAI, Raisei (LWU) 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) |
| 6. William Karpinski (JMUM) def. CASASNOVAS, Marc (LWU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) |
Doubles competition
| 1. BLASCO, Amadeo/SERGIO, Guilherme (LWU) def. Pierre Kohler/Alvaro Arce (JMUM) 5-3 |
| 2. Gonzalo Adis/William Karpinski (JMUM) def. FARTHING, Julian/SAKAI, Raisei (LWU) 6-4 |
| 3. Paul Mendoza/Tate Steinour (JMUM) def. CASASNOVAS, Marc/CAGIGAS, Guillermo (LWU) 6-4 |
Match Notes
| Longwood 4-3 |
| James Madison University 7-2 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (3,1,2,5,6,4) |
| T-5:09 |
