USA vs. Nicholls box score

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men’s tennis team defeated Nicholls 6-1 in their first match of the spring season Monday at the Mobile Tennis Center.

The Jags started the day strong, blanking the Colonels in doubles action, before winning five of six singles matches.

USA senior Lucas Viel (Boussy-Saint-Antoine, France) and sophomore Alexandre Bernard (Soisy Sur Seine, France) paired up on court No. 2 to beat Roy Knight and Palash Tiwari 8-3. On the No. 3 court juniors Dauw Kruger (Pretoria, South Africa) and Hanno Bartsch (Pretoria, South Africa) topped Matshidiso Malope and Shayann Vaezzadeh 8-4 to clinch the doubles point. The Jaguar tandem of Christian Kuehne (Morbach, Germany) and Romain Bocaert (Lille, France) rounded out doubles play with an 8-4 victory over Damjan Despotovski and Dmitry Kozinov.

“We played very aggressive in doubles today,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu. “We let them know right from the first game that we would take the doubles point. Having a confident attitude, a great presence on the courts and a strong start today were very important goals for us.  It was good to see all three of our doubles teams controlling the match and winning quickly.”

Tiwari picked up the first and only point of the match for the Colonels against South Alabama’s Parker Allen (Hot Springs, Ark.) at No. 5 singles 6-0, 6-2.

Viel followed in the No. 1 spot with a straight-sets win over Despotovski 6-0, 6-1. At No. 4 singles Bartsch defeated Vaezzadeh 6-2, 6-1.

Senior Jairo Seur (Amsterdam, Netherlands) clinched the match for the Jags with his 6-4, 6-1 victory over Razvan Cojocaru at No. 6 singles.

“It is always good to see a player like Jairo stepping in the lineup when we needed him and coming up big to give his team the win,” said Brochu. “After pulling out two players from singles today, Jairo stepped in and showed a lot of composure coming back from a 4-2 deficit to win 6-4, 6-1.”

Bernard and Kruger secured the last two points with come-from-behind wins at No. 2 and No. 3 singles. Bernard downed Kozinov 1-6, 7-5, (10-8) at No. 2 and Kruger defeated Knight 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), (10-2) in the No. 3 spot.

“Today we had trouble in singles,” said Brochu. “We had a slow start on four courts and it could have cost us the match.  I have to give credit to Nicholls. They played good tennis and took the early lead. I am proud of my guys who fought back and gave us a good win.”

The Jaguars will be back in action Feb. 6 when they host Florida A&M at 1 p.m. at the Mobile Tennis Center.

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).

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