Greenville, S.C. – The Furman men's tennis team suffered its first home loss of the season on Saturday as the Paladins fell 5-2 to the James Madison Dukes from Mickel Tennis Center.

Furman falls to 1-3 on the season while James Madison improves to 1-1 overall.

The Dukes captured doubles victories at No. 1 and No. 2 to claim the point and take an early 1-0 lead over the Paladins. James Madison took the opening two matches with Esteve Agusti and Aathreya Mahesh defeating Thomas Kennedy and Elijah Poritzky, 6-3, at No. 1, followed by Julian Lozano and Youssef Sadek winning their No. 2 match versus Ben Cahill and Emil Westling, 6-4. In the No. 3 match, Cole Burnam and Alex Han won their third consecutive match holding off Markus Giersiepen and Francisco Sinopoli in a tiebreaker, 7-6(4).

James Madison would then record singles win at No. 1, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 to record the 5-2 victory. Sadek began things at No. 1 with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Kennedy before the Dukes won the final three matches to close out the contest. Agusti won 7-6(5), 6-2 over John Rado in the No. 4 match, and Giersiepen registered a 7-6(5), 6-2 triumph versus Connor Laymon at No. 5. Playing at No. 6, Mahesh defeated Burnam 6-3, 6-3.

Furman picked up victories from Westling and Leonardo Dal Boni at No. 2 and No. 3. Dal Boni would even the score at 1-1 as he started the singles portion of the match by winning his second straight contest over Lozano, 6-4, 6-3. After JMU claimed a win at No. 1, Westling collected his first win of the year at No. 3, tying the score at 2-2 when he won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, against Sinopoli.

The Paladins wrap up their four-match homestand next Friday, January 26 when they host Bellarmine and North Greenville in a doubleheader at Mickel Tennis Center. Furman takes on Bellarmine at 3 p.m. followed by North Greenville at 7:30 p.m. Fans can follow the action on www.furmanpaladins.com via live stats and live streaming. Updates will also be posted on the Furman men's tennis Twitter page (@FurmanMTennis).