Results

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The University of South Alabama men’s tennis team defeated No. 63 Middle Tennessee on day two of the H-E-B Tournament of Champions, hosted by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

South Alabama improved to 7-3, while MTSU dropped to 5-5 this season.

“Playing three matches within 27 hours is always hard on the mind and the body,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu. “I told the guys that all the teams will be tired this morning and we need to take advantage of the situation and start very aggressive and take the early lead. It is always hard to play from behind.”

Seniors Christian Kuehne (Morbach, Germany) and Hanno Bartsch (Pretoria, South Africa) won 8-3 over Ben Davis and Christoph Lang on the No. 2 court.

MTSU tied the Jags at 1-1 when Yannick Born and Marlon Brand defeated senior Romain Bocaert (Lille, France) and junior Alex Bernard (Soisy Sur Seine, France) 8-6 at the No. 1 spot.

Freshman Daniel Leitner (Niederfischbach, Germany) and junior Cody Hall (Albuquerque, N.M) clinched the doubles point for USA after edging Ettore Zito and Matthew Langley 8-5 in the No. 3 flight.

“We played great doubles,” said Brochu. “We were aggressive from the first point to the last.”

Bocaert took the win over Lang 6-2, 6-4 on the No. 1 court, followed by freshman Blake Gregor (Griffith, New South Wales, Australia) falling 6-2, 6-1 to Forrest Edwards at the No. 5 spot.

Senior Dauw Kruger (Pretoria, South Africa) defeated Born 6-4, 6-3 in the No. 6 flight to give the Jaguars a 3-1 lead. Hall lost 7-6, 6-1 to Dimitri Pippos on the No. 4 court.

Bernard secured the win for the Jaguars after outlasting Langley 6-4, 1-6, 6-0 at the No. 2 spot.

“It was great to see Alex be in a similar situation as last year in the conference final, but this time he closed it in a great fashion,” said Brochu. “He had a great start and won the first set, but dropped the second. He regrouped well and stuck to the game plan, winning by a perfect set. I’m proud of him because he showed a lot of maturity and competitiveness on the court.”

South Alabama faces Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a dual match tomorrow at 5 p.m.

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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