ROME, GA. – Seventh-seeded App State Tennis will face off against No. 10 seed James Madison in the second round of the Sun Belt Tournament on Thursday. The Dukes claimed a 5-2 victory over the Mountaineers in the Black and Gold's Sun Belt opener on March 9.
Thursday's match will be streamed on ESPN+ and the live stats link will be available via appstatesports.com.
Thursday
Who: (7) App State (12-9, 6-5 SBC) vs (10) James Madison (8-12, 4-6 SBC)
When: 2 p.m.
Where: Rome, Ga.
On the Mountaineers
App State concluded its regular season campaign with three players totaling double-digit wins.
Savannah Dada-Mascoll led the team in both singles and doubles victories, capping off the regular season with 16 singles and 12 doubles wins.
Maggie Pate finished with 14 singles and 12 doubles victories during the regular season. The Floridian ripped through two separate three-match win streaks in Sun Belt play to garner six conference wins.
Naledi Manyube finished her first collegiate regular season with 11 overall singles wins and six wins in league play. The South African won five straight matches in conference play with wins over ULM, Arkansas State, Louisiana, Texas State and Southern Miss.
On the Dukes
James Madison comes into tournament play having lost its last five matches. Including losses to ranked opponents Old Dominion and VCU.
The Dukes were led in the regular season by Daria Munteanu, who finished the regular season with a 12-6 overall singles record at the No. 1 position. Ines Oliveira claimed the second-most wins for the Dukes with 11, splitting time between the No. 2 and 3 positions.
Daria and Ines were the only two players to finish the regular season in double-digit wins in singles play for James Madison.
Last Time Against JMU
Dada-Mascoll and Powell secured the Mountaineers' victories in singles play against James Madison. Dada-Mascoll defeated Munteanu at the No. 1 position, 6-3, 6-0, while Powell defeated Broerman in three sets (3-6, 6-3, 6-2) on Court 2.
The Dukes were able to hold off the Mountaineers on Courts 3-6. JMU also claimed the doubles point with wins on Courts 1 and 3. Court 2's doubles match was left unfinished.
Looking Ahead
Thursday's winner advances to play No. 2 seed Marshall on Friday in the quarterfinals. The Mountaineers fell to the Thundering Herd, 4-3, in Huntington, W. Va. on April 13. Dada-Mascoll, Pate, and Manyube each secured victories for App State in the loss.
