Box Score

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men’s tennis team improved their record to 2-1 after shutting out Southern Miss 7-0 Wednesday at the Mobile Tennis Center.

The Jaguars rebound from a loss Sunday vs. Florida A&M and drop the Golden Eagles to 1-6.

The South Alabama tandem of freshman Parker Allen (Hot Springs, Ark.) and sophomore Alexandre Bernard (Soisy Sur Seine, France) set the tone for the match downing Michael Sims and Alex Doleac 8-0 on the No. 3 court. In the No. 2 flight juniors Hanno Bartsch (Pretoria, South Africa) and Dauw Kruger (Pretoria, South Africa) clinched the doubles point with their 8-4 victory over Paulo Alvarado and Jovan Zeljkovic. The 36th-ranked duo of senior Lucas Viel (Boussy-Saint-Antoine, France) and junior Romain Bocaert (Lille, France) followed in the No. 1 spot topping Jan Burmeister and Julien Roussel 8-5.      

“I think we’re playing very well in doubles,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu. “Over the last three matches we’ve won pretty consistently in doubles even though we’ve been trying different pairs.”

Viel picked up a quick 6-1, 6-2 win over Zeljkovic at No. 1 singles followed by Allen’s dominating 6-0, 6-1 victory over Stewart Gammill on the No. 6 court.

Bocaert secured the match for the Jaguars downing Roussel in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 in the No. 2 flight.

Bartsch gave up only three games in his 6-2, 6-1 victory over Doleac at No. 5 singles. Kruger followed in the No. 4 spot defeating Alvarado 6-2, 3-6, (10-7). Bernard came from behind to beat Burmeister 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), (11-9) in the No. 3 position.

“Today singles went very well,” said Brochu. “We were more aggressive than we were in the last match. We were definitely more mentally tough today than we were two days ago. The guys made a good change.”

The Jags return to action Feb. 19 when they travel to Tampa, Fla. to take on South Florida.

“We’re still struggling with injuries,” said Brochu. “We’ve got about a week and a half to fix that before our next match. When we’re missing we have a tendency to get a little soft and a little bit sloppy. We need to take advantage of the lead that we’ve built. We need to make sure that if we get ahead we stay ahead and we close the door so they have no chance of coming back. That’s the one thing we need to work on before our next match because South Florida is a very good team. They’ve been ranked over the last few years in a really tough conference. We’re looking forward to going down there and having a really good 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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