MURFREESBORO, Tenn. --- No. 56 Middle Tennessee won doubles and three of the top four singles flights to defeat South Alabama 4-2 and win the Sun Belt Shootout Saturday at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center.

USA drops to 10-10 on the season while MTSU improves to 12-9.

The Blue Raiders started off by claiming wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. John Peers and Matthew Langley took freshmen Romain Bocaert (Lille, France) and Hanno Bartsch (Pretoria, South Africa) 8-2, and the team of Robert McKenzie and Morgan Richard defeated freshmen Leo Dominguez (Paris, France) and Dauw Kruger (Pretoria, South Africa) 8-5.

“We wanted to win the doubles point because we knew that Middle Tennessee’s strength was in doubles,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu. “We knew that if we took the point away from them that would give us the momentum. But I think we played some ?shy’ tennis today. We were not loud and definitely not aggressive enough. When it came down to getting the big points, MTSU was all over us, so that’s the one thing we need to learn ? be more aggressive.”

Peers and McKenzie continued their tough play in singles. No. 104 Peers topped senior Marek Sramek (Skalica, Slovakia) 6-1, 6-1 and No. 94 McKenzie won 6-2, 6-2 over Bocaert.

“Those two matches were really different,” said Brochu. “Marek played a guy who’s very aggressive and comes to the net a lot and I think (Peers) had a lot of firepower and Marek was under a lot of pressure. In Romain’s match, I think the difference was the other guy was a bit more patient. Romain had all the weapons to beat the guy but he was making too many unforced errors. McKenzie, having more experience, was more patient, strategized better and that made the difference.”

Bartsch defeated Kyle Wishing 6-4, 6-1 at No. 5 and Kruger won in a walk-over at No. 6 for USA’s two points.

“Last year we came to the Shootout and lost in the final and then two weeks later we won conference,” said Brochu. “So if you want to be superstitious, let’s hope that the same thing happens this year. It worked for us last year, let’s hope that it works for us this year.

 “The good thing is, playing them now, we have two weeks to tweak our gameplan and find what we need to add so we have a better chance of beating those guys next time (at the Sun Belt Tournament).

The Jaguars return to the court next Saturday with a match vs. VCU in Newport News, Va.

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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