* No. 1 singles junior Edward Ayers won in a three-set thriller
* Sophomore Ryan Charles picked up a win at No. 6 singles
* Mason returns to action next Friday (Feb. 1) at East Carolina
 
HARRISONBURG, Va. – The George Mason University men's tennis team matched James Madison stroke-for-stroke in a competitive spring season opener but could not push past the host Dukes, falling 5-2 on Friday in Harrisonburg.
 
Junior Edward Ayers and sophomore Ryan Charles picked up singles victories for the Patriots and Mason's four other singles student-athletes put forth strong efforts in the debut.
 
"I challenged the guys to simply come out and compete with all they had for our first match, and they definitely did," head coach Jimmy Davis said. "We started out slow, but when our backs were against the wall I was really impressed with the fight and team camaraderie we displayed. We took a strong team to three sets in four of the six singles matches and game ourselves a chance to win today."
 
The Dukes jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match after taking the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles contests to open the day.
 
JMU then went up 3-0 with straight sets wins at No. 2 and No. 3 singles.
 
Mason raced back into the match after an excellent performance from Ayers in his spring debut against Pierre Kohler. The San Antonio product fell in his opening set, 6-4, but answered back with a 7-5 victory in the second. In the deciding third, Ayers faced a difficult path to a win, trailing 5-3. But he showed grit by breaking Kohler, then holding on serve to head to 5-5. The match then went to a tiebreak, where Ayers won 7-5 to claim the outstanding win.
 
The Dukes clinched the match with a win at No. 4 singles. Mason senior Giuliano Buzoianu claimed the first set, 6-4, but fell in the final two sets as JMU took it.
 
Freshman Erick Rivas also won his opening set at No. 5 singles (6-4) in a solid dual debut for the freshman.
 
At No. 6 singles, Ryan Charles played well for the Green & Gold. After winning his first set against Eugene Clur (6-4), he dropped his second frame, 6-1. But in a shortened third set, Charles won a 10-6 point decision to pick up the win.
 
"I'm excited for the potential this team has and we will take our strengths and weaknesses to practice and continue to make improvements," Davis added.
 
Mason returns to action next Friday (Feb. 1) with a 2:30 p.m. contest at East Carolina.
 
#GetPatriotic