MOBILE, Ala. - The University of South Alabama men's tennis team downed the Rattlers of Florida A&M 6-1 on Sunday.

"Today was good," USA head coach Nick Brochu said. "Our number one goal was to be very aggressive in doubles, win the doubles point and get the early lead and we definitely did that. I told the guys to make sure they move a lot and be very aggressive and they really took care of business. It's good to win a match like this. It gives us some confidence."

The Jaguars took the early lead winning all three doubles matches. At the No. 2 spot sophomores Dauw Kruger and Christian Kuehne defeated FAMU's Michael Moore and David Jackson 8-2 and the team of Romain Bocaert and Hanno Bartsch followed with an 8-4 victory over Temeura Asafu-Adjaye and Maurice Wamukowa at No. 1. Newcomers Alexandre Bernard and Jairo Seur rounded out doubles play with an 8-5 win over Takura Happy and Fabrice Myrhl.

In singles action Kruger did not lose a game to Wamukowa beating him 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 5 flight. At No.1 singles Bocaert beat Jackson in straight sets 6-2, 6-1. Kuehne clinched the win for the Jaguars when he won 6-2, 6-2 over Moore on the No. 3 court. At No. 4 singles Bernard downed Marc Atkinson in straight sets 6-1, 6-3, followed by Bartsch's 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 victory over Happy at the No. 2 position.

"We had a lot of energy going into singles," said Brochu. "We had the same plan, to get the early break, which we did. Once we got that lead we felt very confident and more relaxed and we were hitting the shots."

At No. 6 singles USA's Seur fell to Asafu-Adjaye 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), (10-5) giving the Rattlers their only point of the match.  

The Jags hit the road on Feb. 20 to take on BYU in Tucson, Ariz. at 10 a.m. CST.

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

-USA-