VILLANOVA, Pa. -

The Villanova men's tennis team (10-8) lost a close match to the James Madison Dukes (12-8) on Friday afternoon at the Villanova Tennis Complex in Villanova, Pa.

Head Coach Brad Adams explained that, "Today was a difficult match to not come away with a win. The guys played extremely tough throughout the match."

The Wildcats picked up the first point during doubles play after sweeping the Dukes of all matches. Thomas Dodson and Tyler Roth finished first with a 6-3 win at the No. 2 spot. Luis Miranda and Will Elmore then clinched the point for the Wildcats after defeating James Madison 6-4 at the No. 1 doubles spot. Stefan Suarez and Mike Czlonka secured the clean sweep in doubles play with a 6-4 win at the No. 3 spot. "The way we played during the doubles point was extremely strong," added Adams

After gaining a quick lead, the Dukes came out with revenge. Thomas Dodson was defeated 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 5 spot to tie the match back up. Dylan Flanagan gave the Wildcats another lead when he won his singles match 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 4 singles spot. Flanagan would be the only Wildcat to win a singles match as the next three matches, the Dukes would win. Luis Miranda fell 6-2, 6-4 at the No. 1 spot and Tyler Roth fell 7-6 (2), 6-3 at the No. 3 singles spot. With the Dukes ahead by one point, Stefan Suarez put up a hard-fought battle at the No. 2 singles spot. Suarez pushed a three-set match, one that even went into a tiebreaker. Unfortunately, after a tough battle, Stefan was defeated. Alastair Hurry did not finish his match as the Dukes had clinched the match. Adams said that, "Singles was a battle in all the matchs and the guys on the bench and in the court showed a great fighting spirit,"

The Wildcats will return to action tomorrow with two back to back matches at home. They host Chestnut Hill and Lafayette. "We have a lot of statement matches coming up over the next week and a half (including two tomorrow) and I am very confident that we can take the positives and lessons learned in this match and apply them to the matches prior to the conference championship ,in order to accomplish many goals that we set at the beginning of the season," stated Head Coach Brad Adams.

Doubles:
1) Miranda/Elmore (VU) def Lauthiez/Mendoza (JMU) 6-4
2) Dodson/Roth (VU) def. Roberts/Saliuas (JMU) 6-3
3) Suarez/Czlonka (VU) def. Ruzic/Moorhead (JMU) 6-4

Order of Finish 2,1,3

Singles:
1) Roberts (JMU) def. Luis Miranda (VU) 6-2, 6-4
2) Mendoza (JMU) def. Stefan Suarez (VU) 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3)
3) Salinas (JMU) def. Tyler Roth (VU) 7-6 (2), 6-3
4) Dylan Flanagan (VU) def. Moorhead (JMU) 6-2, 6-3
5) Lauthiez (JMU) def. Thomas Dodson (VU) 6-1, 6-2
6) Hurry vs Steinour DNF Nova up 7-6 (4), 5-5

Order of Finish
5,4,1,3,2 (6DNF)