MONTGOMERY, Ala. ? No. 16 South Alabama opened the 2007 Blue-Grey National Tennis Classic with a 4-2 win over Sun Belt Conference rival No. 34 Middle Tennessee Thursday. With the win, USA improves to 13-1 and awaits the winner of the Boise State vs. Wisconsin match.
USA sent the Blue Raiders (8-7) to their fourth loss in their last five matches and won three tiebreakers on Thursday to seal the victory.
Middle Tennessee’s Morgan Richard and Marc Rocafort defeated Dias Doskarayev and R.J. Nagel, 8-4, at No. 2, but USA's Craig Dunne and Jack Baker won at No. 3, 8-4, over Marc Boiron and Joao Paoliello.
The Blue Raiders’ fourth-ranked duo of Andreas Siljestrom and Marco Born gave the Blue Raiders the first point of the match with an 8-5 triumph over 43rd-ranked Marek Sramek and Robert Hodel.
USA roared back in singles play winning the first set of five of the six matches. The match was delayed almost an hour due to rain in the Montgomery area. Junior Robert Nagel was the first off blanking Boiron 6-0, 6-0, at No. 5 before junior Jack Baker won 6-2, 7-6 (2) at No. 2 over 88th-ranked Born. 27th-ranked Sramek put the Jags up 3-1 with a 6-4, 6-3 win over 103rd-ranked Rocafort at No. 3.
The Blue Raiders came within 3-2 winning at No. 4, but a gutsy performance by Doskarayev at the top seed against Siljestrom was the difference. Doskarayev was down 1-6, 1-4, before coming back to defeat his opponent 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the decisive match.
USA now will face either Boise State or Wisconsin Friday afternoon.
#16 South Alabama 4, #34 Middle Tennessee 2
SINGLES
1. (96) Dias Doskarayev (USA) def. (62) Andreas Siljestrom (MT), 1-6, 6-4, 6-4
2. Jack Baker (USA) def. (88) Marco Born (MT), 6-2, 7-6 (2)
3. (27) Marek Sramek (USA) def. (103) Marc Rocafort (MT), 6-4, 6-3
4. Morgan Richard (MT) def. Robert Hodel (USA), 6-7 (5), 6-4, 1-0, default
5. R.J. Nagel (USA) def. Marc Boiron (MT), 6-0, 6-0
6. Joao Paoliello (MT) vs. Craig Dunne (USA), 6-7 (6), 6-6 (6-4)
Order of Finish: 5,2,3,4,1*
DOUBLES
1. (4) Born-Siljestrom (MT) def. (43) Hodel-Sramek (USA), 8-5
2. Richard-Rocafort (MT) def. Doskarayev-Nagel (USA), 8-4
3. Dunne-Baker (USA) def. Boiron-Paoliello (MT), 8-4
Order of Finish: 2,3,1*
