MOBILE, Ala. - The University of South Alabama men’s tennis team will take on Nicholls State in their first home match of the season Thursday at 1 p.m. on the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.

USA leads the all-time series with Nicholls 4-1 and defeated Nicholls last season 6-1.

The Jaguars enter the match with a 1-1 record on the season after splitting a pair of matches last weekend in Tallahassee. After falling 4-0 to No. 44 Florida State, the Jaguars later picked up the win against Furman 7-0.

Thursday will be the spring season opener for the Colonels.

“Florida State was a hard wake-up call,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu. “It was the first match of the season and I thought we would do better.”

Brochu saw positives from the FSU loss, notably from the efforts of USA’s doubles teams.

“We played good doubles,” said Brochu. “We did really well at one and three, but I was a little disappointed with our other positions. We have a lot of freshmen this year and I don’t know if they thought it would be a little easier, but they definitely got a wake-up call.”

South Alabama ended the day going undefeated against Furman in singles and doubles matches.

The Jaguars won five out of six singles matches in straight sets.

Freshman Daniel Leitner (Niederfischbach, Germany) dropped only two games in his match against Jacob Behal and won 6-0, 6-2, while junior Cody Hall (Albuquerque, N.M.) lost only three games before defeating Tyler Droll 6-1, 6-2.

In doubles action, No. 1 and No. 2 lost a combined three games in their matches to clinch the doubles point.

“We did much better in our match against Furman,” said Brochu. “Everyone was aggressive, calm and focused. We didn’t drop a set or a match. I really hope that we can take this into Nicholls State.”

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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