HARRISONBURG, Va. – The George Mason University men's tennis team nearly pulled off a big-time road win but fell just short in a 4-3 defeat at James Madison on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Patriots took the early 1-0 lead after winning two of three doubles matches. At No. 3, junior Dustin Ha and sophomore Alvaro Pedraza put together a strong 6-2 victory over Edson Sanchez and Francisco Sinopoli. Then, at No. 1, sophomore Monil Lotlikar and junior Niza Simunyola clinched the point with a 7-5 triumph over Agusti Esteve and Julian Lozano.
 
JMU tied it up with a victory at No. 2, but Lotlikar picked up his third singles win in a row at the top spot to put Mason back up, 2-1. He dropped the first set, 5-7, to Youssef Sadek, but bounced back to take the next two sets, 6-4, 6-1, to take the gritty win.
 
JMU won matches at No. 3 and No. 5 to take a 3-2 advantage. Then, the Dukes clinched the match with a triumph at No. 6.
 
But the Patriots picked up their third point at No. 4 singles, courtesy of graduate student Momin Khan. He defeated Giersiepen Markus in three sets. He won the first, 6-4, then fell in the second, 4-6. In the third, it went to a tiebreaker, which Khan dominated, 7-0.
 
Mason returns to action Sunday with a 2:30 p.m. contest at Virginia Tech.