Box Score (PDF)
FARMVILLE, Va. – The George Mason University men's tennis team fell to Longwood by the score of 5-2 on Sunday in Farmville.
The Lancers won two of three doubles matches and four of six singles contests to claim the victory. In singles, Mason student-athletes went to three sets in two of the four Lancer victories.
"It's tough losing these close matches because the guys are making improvements every week and have competed at a very high level with our tough schedule," head coach Jimmy Davis said. "I'm confident this will make us stronger for conference matches. Carter [Bradford] has shown major improvement, and we have a couple of our key players getting close to the potential we know they're capable of playing at."
In doubles to open the day, the Lancers won the contests at No. 1 and No. 2. However at No. 3, the pair of Bradford and senior
Giuliano Buzoianu swept their Longwood opponents, 6-0. The duo has won its past two doubles matches.
At singles, with Longwood leading the match 1-0, the Lancers won the contest at No. 4 to go up 2-0.
Mason cut it to 2-1 after a three-set victory from Bradford at No. 5. The Saudi Arabia native dropped the first set, 6-4, but came back to win the next two (7-6, 6-3) to claim victory. It marked his seventh dual singles win in nine opportunities this season.
From there, senior
Pally Ray won the first set in a tiebreaker at No. 3, but Valentin Popescu of Longwood came back to win the next two sets (6-2, 6-3) and LWU took a 3-1 edge.
Longwood clinched the match at No. 2, where Raisei Sakai defeated
Jakob Nielsen. Nielsen won the first set, 6-3, but dropped the next two (6-3, 6-2).
Mason picked up its other point at No. 6 singles, where Buzoianu won the first set 6-4, and after dropping the next frame, won his third set (pro set format), 10-8. Buzoianu has now won two dual singles matches in a row.
Next up for Mason, the Patriots will play a quartet of matches at PTR Springfest in Hilton Head Mar. 13-16.
"Spring break will be an awesome opportunity to sharpen our confidence and get some extra practice time outdoors," Davis said. "We're excited to continue making improvements, and I know we're very close to turning the corner and pulling out these close matches against high-level opponents."
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