Men's team washed out at CAAs
By John Galle, sports editor
Posted on April 27, 2006

Going into the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, the men’s team had already put last year’s dismal record of 6-14 to rest by more than doubling their win column and finishing at .500 (13-13). Despite losing in the first round, the Dukes have a sense of accomplishment.

“This was a ton better than last year,” JMU men’s coach Steve Secord said. “We had depth that we didn’t have last season, [because of John Snead’s injury]. Overall, reaching .500 is awesome considering [our schedule]. There were six or seven matches in there that we realistically knew we weren’t going to win.”

After earning the higher seed (No. 6) in the regular season, they were rewarded with a tough matchup in opponent William & Mary (No. 3), who had beaten them 7-0 earlier in the spring.

Due to inclement weather, the Dukes were forced indoors into William & Mary’s facility and played their singles matches first. The doubles matches, a developing, consistent strength for the men’s team, were not played at all since the Tribe locked up the match 4-0 in singles play.

“We’ve had confidence in our doubles teams, so that was unfortunate,” Secord said. “It could’ve been more interesting, but [William & Mary] played well [and] I’m happy with the way [our] guys competed.”

Sophomore Carlin Campbell and freshman Brian Rubenstein had their singles matches abandoned at the five and six position.

No. 1 Tarr came back from losing a tough, first set (6-0) to split sets (2-6). However, Colin O’Brien of the Tribe took the final set (6-3) and the match. Senior Bob Allensworth lost by a breaker in his second set (6-2, 7-6 (4)) at the number four spot.

“We were the lower seed and it was the last match of the year,” Tarr said. “So we had nothing to lose, but we didn’t let ourselves get out of our game.”