NORFOLK, Va. --- No. 43 Virginia Commonwealth came back from a set down in four singles flights to defeat the University of South Alabama 6-1 Saturday afternoon at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center on the campus of Old Dominion University.

The Rams improve to 16-8 while the Jaguars drop to 10-11.

“I thought we played very well,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu. “Before the match I told the guys, ?Don’t worry about winning or losing, compete the best that you can.’ We won the first set on five courts so I thought they listened. Playing a match like this against a team that’s top-25 caliber is good for us. I don’t think the final score was indicative of how the match was played.”

VCU took all three doubles matches 8-5. The Rams’ Benjamin Bouhana and Emil Lindgren, ranked 72nd in the nation, defeated freshmen Romain Bocaert (Lille, France) and Hanno Bartsch (Pretoria, South Africa) at No. 1.

The Jags won the first set in singles action on the first four and No. 6 courts. But VCU answered at Nos. 2-4 to win the next two sets, including Lindgren’s clincher 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 at No. 3 over freshman Leo Dominguez (Paris, France).

“We started very strong and played aggressively at the beginning of the match,” said Brochu. “We came close to closing out the match in the second set on most courts but we didn’t. I think we got down on ourselves and that’s why we lost the third set. We have to learn that if you don’t close it out in the second set, you work harder to win it in the third.”

USA senior Marek Sramek (Skalica, Slovakia) rebounded from a 6-1 setback in the second set to outlast Thibaut Charron 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 at No. 1.

“The match was up and down because he was playing inconsistently,” said Sramek. “My goal was to control the points, don’t make any mistakes and let the guy beat himself.”

The match Saturday was the third straight ranked opponent for the Jags (1-2).

“A match like this shows us how good we can be, but also what we need to work on,” said Brochu. “We need to get tougher. If we want to be able to pull out those big matches we have to get tougher ? we need to get a 6-3 win in the third set.”

South Alabama plays Old Dominion Sunday at 11 a.m.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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