LAFAYETTE, La. – The University of South Alabama men's tennis team dropped just two matches total on day one of the Battle on the Bayou Friday, hosted by Louisiana-Lafayette.

Seniors Tuki Jacobs (Windhoek, Namibia) and Juan Cruz Soria (San Juan, Argentina) both advanced to the semifinals of Flight 1, while freshman Clement Marzol (Toulouse, France) advanced to the semis of Flight 2.

"Today was great for us," head coach Nick Brochu said. "I am happy the way we competed today. Finishing day one with a 6-1 record in singles is awesome. We need to rest for four more matches each tomorrow."

Jacobs and Marzol teamed up to reach the semifinals of the doubles draw, defeating Michael Kritzinger of ULL and Chad Nguyen of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 6-1 in the first round, and Wen-Po Tseng and Teeradon Torttrakul of Southern Miss 6-4.

Soria and junior Olivier Gingras (Quebec City, Quebec, Canada) were downed 6-4 by the Ragin' Cajuns' Pearse Dolan and Vlad Kramarov in the second round.

"We started with doubles and got two quick wins from our new tandem Tuki and Clement," Brochu said. "They had good chemistry and were very competitive. Olivier and Juan Cruz played well but made some key mistakes towards the end."

Jacobs lost just two games in his opener, a 6-2, 6-0 victory over ULL's Eric Perez, then needed a rally to get past Torttrakul, 4-6, 6-3, (10-8). Soria downed Jeffrey Hsu of New Orleans 6-2, 6-1 in the first round and used three sets in his 6-4, 2-6, (10-6) victory over Dolan.

Marzol received a bye into the second round, then defeated ULL's Silvio Cocito 6-1, 6-3. Gingras lost his first-round match, but won his consolation matchup with Tseng 6-4, 6-3.

"In singles, the guys established their game plan and executed well," Brochu said. "Knowing we had to play four matches today, the guys didn't waste time and took opportunity of the early chances they got and broke their opponents early.

"Later in the afternoon, we could see that the guys were getting a little tired and started to press too hard, too early. We made some mistakes which forced us to play a supertiebreaker on some courts. Juan Cruz and Tuki relaxed and focused on their game plan and won two close matches."

The final day of play starts Saturday morning.

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