MURFREESBORO, Tenn. --- University of South Alabama freshman Romain Bocaert (Lille, France) provided the clinching victory in two matches as the Jaguars advanced to the Sun Belt Shootout championship Friday at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center.

The sixth-seeded Jaguars defeated Memphis 4-3 in the opener and No. 74 Denver 4-2 in the nightcap. USA will play No. 56 Middle Tennessee, the top seed, Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
Bocaert’s clincher against Memphis finished off a 3-1 rally, with all South Alabama wins coming after losing the first set. The Tigers took the doubles point on a 9-7 triumph at No. 3 doubles.

“We had a couple of match points to win doubles so it was disappointing when we couldn’t close,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu. “We went into singles and didn’t start too well. We lost the first set on five of the six courts so we were down a point and a set on five courts. It’s been a long season and the guys have really been learning the whole time. Today it just turned around and we started winning.”

Bocaert came from a set down to take Benedikt Fischer of Memphis 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 and complete the comeback.  Senior Marek Sramek (Skalica, Slovakia) started the rally with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 win over No. 86 Jorge Vazquez and freshman Hanno Bartsch (Pretoria, South Africa) tied the match at 3-3 by defeating Michael Hayes 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.

“I went to each individual player and I told them not to look around and focus on your court because if you’re looking at the overall scores, it’s hard to come back,” said Brochu. “I said to just worry about your match. We have to win one match at a time and that’s the way we took it. We won a match here and then a match there and before you know it, it’s tied 3-3. Romain stepped up and got us a big win. We had to take it one match at a time if not one point at a time in order to come back. Everybody had to stay focused.”

In the afternoon contest against Denver, the Jaguars claimed the doubles point on a 9-8 tiebreaker at No. 2.

“We won the doubles point, so that was nice,” said Brochu. “It gave us a cushion so we went into singles with less pressure. The three matches we won, we were leading throughout. Even though we were behind in the overall score, I don’t think we were nervous at any point.”

USA won the final three singles matches all in straight sets. Freshman Dauw Kruger (Pretoria, South Africa) and Sramek provided the first two points and Bocaert closed it out with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over No. 112 David Simson.

“Romain is playing really solid right now,” said Brochu. “Clinching the win this morning and this afternoon was just amazing. Being a freshman and being able to handle the pressure at No. 2 is great. I’m really proud of him.”

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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