ORANGE BEACH, Ala. ? The No. 18 South Alabama men’s tennis team defeated No. 60 Northwestern 5-2 Friday afternoon at the Orange Beach Tennis Center.  With the win, USA snaps a two-match skid and improves to 14-3 on the year, while Northwestern falls to 6-9. 

Northwestern jumped on the board early winning the doubles point as Matt Christian and Willy Lock defeated junior Robert Hodel and sophomore Marek Sramek at the top spot 8-5 and won at No. 3 with an 8-5 win by Christian Tempke and Juan Gomez over sophomore Craig Dunne and junior Jack Baker.  USA’s duo of junior R.J. Nagel and senior Dias Doskarayev defeated Marc Dwyer and Alex Sandborn 8-3.

USA was not down for long as it came roaring back in singles play, taking five of the six matches.  Dunne, who moved up to the fifth spot in the lineup this week, won the first set over Gomez 6-3, but lost the second 6-3 and need the third set to put away his opponent, 6-3.

“Craig really stepped up today as we moved him up to fifth and he showed great poise and came away with a victory,” Jaguar assistant coach Dan Silvertstein said.

The Jaguars return to action tomorrow against Southern Miss at 1 p.m. at the Orange Beach Tennis Center.

No. 18 South Alabama 5, No. 60 Northwestern 2

Doubles

1. No. 54 Lock/Christian (NU) def. Hodel/Sramek (USA) 8-5

2. Nagel/Doskarayev (USA) def. Dwyer/Sandborn (NU) 8-3

3. Tempke/Gomez (NU) def. Dunne/Baker (USA) 8-5

Singles

1. No. 48 Dias Doskarayev (USA) def. No. 97 Christian Lock (NU) 6-3, 6-2

2. Jack Baker (USA) def. Christian Tempke (NU) 6-3, 6-3

3. No. 41 Marek Sramek (USA) def. Matt Christian (NU) 6-1, 6-1

4. Marc Dwyer (NU) def. Robert Hodel (USA) 7-6, 6-1

5. Craig Dunne (USA) def. Juan Gomez (NU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

6. R.J. Nagel (USA) def. Alex Sanborn (NU) 6-4, 6-1