TROY, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men’s tennis team only dropped one match in their opening round fight against fifth-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette Friday morning at the Sun Belt Shootout at the Lunsford Tennis complex.
The Jaguars were able to clinch the match when Christian Kuehne won his match at No. 3 over Louisiana-Lafayette’s Tomasz Kryszkowki 6-4, 6-4.
“Last time we played against ULL, we put ourselves in an unnecessarily tough position and it came down to the last match,” USA head coach Nick Brochu said. “Today we made sure to beat them hard right from the start and leave them no chance. It feels good to have a convincing win like today.”
The Jags captured the doubles point early with victories at No. 2 and No. 3, despite struggling at No. 1. The No. 2 team of Kuehne and Romain Bocaert made short work of the their opponents from Louisiana 8-2, while their teammates – Dauw Kruger and Lucas Viel - at No. 3 took just a few minutes longer in dispatching of Robert Voss and Neil Schneider 8-4. The number one doubles match was halted with The Ragin’ Cajuns winning 6-3.
“We made sure we had an excellent start in doubles,” said Brochu. “We showed them right from the first point that we were ready to play very aggressive tennis and put the pressure on them. Numbers two and three did an excellent job closing the doubles point for us quickly and giving us the lead 1-0.”
Before the clinching match, the Jaguars used victories by Alexandre Bernard at No. 4– defeating Schneider – and at No. 6 where Kruger picked up a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Alexande Rupertsson.
Louisiana-Lafayette picked up a victory at No. 2 where Javier Pulgar battled back after losing the first set to USA’s Lucas Viel. Pulgar was able to come back and win the second and third sets 6-1, 6-1 to claim the victory.
“In singles, we dominated early at numbers four, five and six,” said Brochu. “Alex and Dauw really played mature tennis and completely controlled the pace of their matches. We had a chance to close the match at 4-0, but we got a little tight and dropped the 2nd set on some courts, but we regrouped and closed the match in a great manner.”
Fourth-seeded South Alabama advances to the championship semifinals Saturday morning at 11 am to face No. 29 Denver.
“We are definitively looking forward to playing Denver tomorrow,” Brochu said. “They are having a great year. Last year, we played them twice and split. It will be a great match.”
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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