MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men’s tennis team defeated Sun Belt Conference challenger New Orleans 6-1 Wednesday at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.

“Today the objective was to really start strong,” USA head coach Nick Brochu said.”Last year, we took New Orleans very lightly and we found ourselves in a hole. This was a very redeeming match for us.”

In doubles action, the Jaguar tandem of Dauw Kruger and Lucas Viel swept UNO’s Rohit Chivukula and Abdelrahman Zaki 8-0 at the No. 3 spot. Freshman Alexandre Bernard and sophomore Christian Kuehne quickly followed with an 8-2 win over Ben Smith and Guilherme Rebolo at No. 2 to clinch the doubles point for the Jags.

“Today we started very strong in doubles,” said Brochu. “We took a quick point and went into singles.”

No. 99 Viel took the first singles point of the match at the No. 1 flight with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over the Privateers’ Stepan Siska. Kuehne followed with a win in straight sets over Rebolo 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot. Sophomore Romain Bocaert sealed the deal for USA on the No. 2 court when he beat Benjamin Bouhana 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

“We had Lucas, at No. 1, close a quick match and Christian, at No. 4, also close a quick match,” Brochu said. “After that we were up 3-0 quickly so it just made the other guys relax and we were able to win a couple of very important matches.”

Next up for the Jags is a road trip to Corpus Christi, Texas on March 5 to participate in the H-E-B Invitational.

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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