MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men’s tennis team will travel to Troy, Ala. to compete in the Sun Belt Shootout beginning on Friday and lasting through the weekend.

Eight teams will be competing from the Sun Belt Conference including South Alabama, No. 65 Troy, No. 29 Denver, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana-Lafayette, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky and New Orleans.

“Once again, the tournament has an excellent level of competition this year,” USA head coach Nick Brochu said. “All the teams that are going to be there are playing well and it will be great competition.”

The Jags, seeded fourth, will face the fifth-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, a team they downed 4-3 earlier this season at the HEB Invitational. The match is set to begin at 9 a.m. on Friday at the Lunsford Tennis Complex on the campus of Troy University. USA leads the all-time series with ULL at 21-13.

“We have already played ULL this season and we know them really well,” said Brochu “Last time we played them we had a really slow start and had some players sitting out.”

The Jaguars enter the match at 6-8 on the year and are coming off of a tough 4-3 loss to No. 68 Troy on March 25. South Alabama is 3-2 against SBC opponents this season with wins over New Orleans, Louisiana-Lafayette and Middle Tennessee.

The Jags are led by junior Lucas Viel (Boussy-Saint-Antoine, France) and sophomore Romain Bocaert (Lille, France). Viel boasts a 9-4 singles record at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, including a 7-6, 6-3 win over No. 23 Clint Bowles of Florida State earlier this season, while Bocaert has tallied an 11-4 mark in duals for the spring campaign.

Louisiana-Lafayette (9-9) is looking to protect a six-match win streak heading into the tournament. Their most recent victory came in the form of a 5-0 sweep of Grambling State on March 28. The Ragin’ Cajuns are 1-2 in Sun Belt play this season with their lone win coming over New Orleans on March 26 at home.

ULL’s top singles performer is Tomasz Kryszkowski who has posted a 13-3 record in duals this season at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 spots and has not been defeated in eight straight matches. Kryszkowski is joined at the top by Carlin Murray (11-5) who is the holder of a five-match win streak.

In last year’s Sun Belt Shootout the Jaguars defeated No. 74 Denver and Memphis only to fall 4-2 to Middle Tennessee in the championship round.

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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