Dukes earn pair of conference wins

Men's Tennis

Nathan Chiantella / photo editor Junior David Emery returns a shot against Towson University. Emery won his match 6-1, 6-1.

With a comeback victory in doubles play, JMU earned a team victory against the University of Delaware Friday at the Hillside tennis courts.

It was JMU’s fifth straight win.

The pair of sophomore John Snead and junior Martin Roehricht was behind 6-3 before they won five straight games to come up with an 8-6 win.

“It is important to get that first point to start off the match right and take some pressure off the individual games,” Snead said.

Although the No. 2 doubles team of junior David Emory and senior Colin Malcolm lost a close game, 8-6, it was the No. 3 doubles pair of freshman Brian Clay and senior Craig Anderson that pulled out an 8-3 win to give the Dukes the doubles match point.

The team continued their succes in singles play with Snead playing Delaware’s No. 2-seeded Sanjay Khindri, defeating his opponent in two sets, 6-0 and 6-2.

Roehricht, as the No. 3 singles seed, also won in two sets 6-1 and 6-1. He was followed by wins by the No. 4-seeded Anderson, 6-3 and 6-2.

With a point from each of those wins, the match was called. The Dukes were winning 4-0, and the No. 1-seeded Emory never finished his match. He had won his first set 7-6 and was winning the second set 3-0 before the match was called.

“It’s really good to pick up a win against Delaware because we hope to fall in a fourth or fifth ranking in the conference,” Snead said.

“Our goal is to play the University of North Carolina-Wilmington in tournament play,” he added. “So beating Delaware and Towson is essential to get that seed.”

JMU beat Towson University 4-0 later that afternoon for their fifth straight win. They are now 8-7 overall.