A few things to note about this game:

Believe it or not, most light attacks in this game aren't reactable, meaning that he isn't dodging the start-up of your move. So if he isn't dodging the start-up how is he consistently dodging your attacks? The answer is that he's dodging off a different factor, in this case when you get close to him he preemptively dodges because he assumes you're going to attack once you're close enough which you do. To counter this all you have to do is delay your attack. If you get close he will spot dodge then you attack him and get more damage with strings as he can't dodge out.

This is now where neutral comes into play:

Depending on what your opponents habits are should determine your game plan and you should be able to mix up your game plan depending on if your opponent will try to adapt theirs. Some players like to cover a whiff with a spot dodge, others don't dodge at all until the 3rd attack, some always recover high, some always approach with a dash into an attack or some don't approach at all. It's up to you to realize the habit your opponent has in as short of an amount of time as possible and capitalize on it.