Box Score (PDF)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The George Mason University men's tennis team opened its spring dual season with a 4-3 victory over Mount St. Mary's on Sunday morning inside the Southeast Learning & Tennis Center.
The Patriots and Mountaineers were tied, 3-3, after singles play, before Mason captured two of the three doubles matches to grab the victory. It was a nice way to open the season for Mason, as the Patriots were without sophomore Eddie Ayers, who is competing in an amateur tournament in Florida.
"We pulled out a close one today. The guys battled hard and played through some early season jitters," head coach Jimmy Davis said. "We were able to win against a relentless Mount St. Mary's team. Not having Eddie today gave everyone an opportunity to step up their game and fortunately for us we trusted each other to get the job done."
The Patriots led the match 1-0 after freshman
Carter Bradford opened singles with a straight sets win over Chris Lindsey at No. 6 (6-2, 6-3).
The Mount moved tied it at 1-1 after a win at No. 3 singles, but sophomore
Jakob Nielsen moved Mason back up 2-1 with a three-set victory at No. 2. The Canadian won his first set, 6-3. Then, after falling in a tiebreak in the second, he closed out his match with a 6-4 win in the third set.
The Mountaineers claimed the No. 4 singles match to tie it up again (2-2), but Mason sophomore
Isaiah Volk put together a gritty victory at the No. 5 position. He won the first set, 7-6 after claiming a tiebreak win (7-4). Then after dropping the second set, 3-6, he closed out the big points in the third to win it, 7-5.
The Mount won the No. 1 singles match to tie it at 3-3 and send the match to a deciding doubles series.
Mason trailed 0-1 in the doubles point, before knotting up the score on a 6-4 victory from the No. 3 team of freshman
Ryan Charles and junior
Giuliano Buzoianu. The Patriots' No. 1 team of seniors
Pally Ray and
Daniel Gutierrez won 7-5 over the Mountaineer duo of Wortkotter and Wood to secure the victory for the Green & Gold.
"I credit Isaiah for closing out his third set and giving us a chance to win it in the doubles, and also big credit to our 1 and 3 doubles teams for stepping up and taking care of business in a high pressure environment," Davis said. "We know we are capable of a higher level of tennis, so we will get back to work tomorrow and continue to make improvements each day."
Mason returns to action Friday (Feb. 2) with a 6 p.m. contest at Mary Washington.
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