March 26, 2008

The Patriots played their fourth CAA match of the season against James Madison at the Mason tennis courts today and lost 7-0. The Dukes took two of the three doubles matches and swept the six singles matches for the win.

The team opened the day with doubles play and saw moderate success. The No.3 doubles team of Stas Budagov and Harwood Hoskins dropped the first game of the set, but managed to stay almost even with their opponents up until the eighth game. Going into the eighth game the No.3 doubles team was only down by one game, 4-3, but lost the next four sets to lose 8-3. Jordan Lipstock and Matt Vaughn won 8-6 as Mason's No.2 team earned their third win of the season.

The last doubles match would determine the point. After falling down 7-2 to James Madison's No.1 doubles pair, Brian Fitzgerald and Dan Schneider made a comeback tying the score at 7-7. Madison took the next two points to win 9-7.

The singles action the Dukes took all six matches in straight sets. Top singles player Fitzgerald lost a close first set 7-6 then retired after Madison's Robinson took a 3-1 lead in the second set. Stas Budagov played the first set close with the score 4-5, but then lost the next game to lose the set 6-4. He lost the second set 6-1. In the No. 5 singles match Jordan Lipstock battled Campbell but fell 6-4, 6-4.

The Patriots continue their home stand against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday, March 29 at 1 pm.

Doubles
No.1 - Tarr/Smith (JMU) def. Fitzgerald/D.Schneider (MAS) 9-7
No.2 - Lipstock/Vaughn (MAS) def. Rubenstein/Campbell (JMU) 8-6
No.3 - Robinson/Vaznenko (JMU) def. Budagov/Hoskins (MAS) 8-3
Singles
No.1 - Robinson (JMU) def. Brian Fitzgerald (MAS) 7-6, 3-1 ret.
No.2 - Tarr (JMU) def. Stas Budagov (MAS) 6-4, 6-1
No.3 - Smith (JMU) def. Dan Schneider (MAS) 6-1, 6-4
No.4 - Rubenstein (JMU) def. Harwood Hoskins (MAS) 6-3, 6-2
No.5 - Campbell (JMU) def. Jordan Lipstock (MAS) 6-4, 6-4
No.6 - Vaznenko (JMU) def. Martin Brown (MAS) 6-1, 6-1