HATTIERBURG, Miss. – South Alabama freshman men's tennis player Santiago Di Loreto (Buenos Aires, Argentina) picked up his first collegiate win as the men's tennis team closed out the Southern Mississippi Invitational Saturday (Sept. 30).
 
"Santi (Di Loreto) fought hard throughout the match. He has been working, and I don't think he's played his best tennis yet, but he has a great attitude to keep working during every point," assistant coach Juan Troglia said.
 
Against Alabama-Birmingham in singles, Di Loreto took down Nikolai Manchev 7-5, 6-3. Senior Olivier Gringas (Quebec City, Quebec, Canada) fell to Kenton Parton 2-6, 4-6, while junior Lucas Gonzalez (Chateauroux, France) took his match over Giovani Pasini 6-2, 6-4. Freshman Nathan Fruh (Fairhope, Ala.) dropped his match to Tom El Safadi 0-6, 0-6.
 
In doubles action against USM, Gingras and Gonzalez fell to Wen Po Tseng and Chung Han Tsai 0-6, while Di Loreto and Fruh fell to Ronit Bisht and Daniel Merker 3-6.
 
Against Louisiana-Lafayette, Gingras and Fruh fell to Pierce Dolan and Pierce Gilheaney 2-6, while Di Loreto and Gonzalez dropped a nail biter to Arthur Libaud and Jamie Fraser 6-7 (8-10).
 
"Olivier (Gingras) and Nathan (Fruh) had difficult opponents today, but overall the team's competitiveness was much better in the afternoon," Troglia said. "I believe this tournament helped us realize how much more we have to work to have better results during the rest of the fall season."
 
The Jaguars return to action at the Samford Invitational Oct. 13-15.

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Join the Baseline Club, the tennis-specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All donations to the Baseline Club go directly to support the South Alabama men's and women's tennis programs. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/baselineclub.