Results

MOBILE, Ala. – After taking all three doubles matches, three University of South Alabama men’s tennis players won singles matches in three sets to give the Jaguars a 4-1 victory over Austin Peay Thursday.

The 42nd-ranked Jaguars win their fourth straight match and are 9-3 on the season. The Governors drop to 4-5.

“We played some high-level tennis last weekend in Corpus Christi against some ranked opponents and we got here and had a slow start,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu. “We’re the top dogs now and we came out a little flat. We got it together and won the doubles point, but it was close. Give credit to Austin Peay, they played really hard. They put up a really good fight.”

Freshman Daniel Leitner (Niederfischbach, Germany) and junior Cody Hall (Alburquerque, N.M.) won USA’s first doubles match 8-4 at No. 3, but the Jags got a narrow win at the top spot to get the point. Senior Romain Bocaert (Lille, France) and junior Alex Bernard (Soisy Sur Seine, France) edged Sean Bailey and Dimitar Ristovski at 8-6 at the No. 1 spot to put South Alabama on top 1-0.

“At No. 1 we got off to a really good start but sat on it,” said Brochu. “We went up two breaks and didn’t play aggressive anymore, which allowed Austin Peay to come back and take the lead. We had to play from behind and fight back.”

Seniors Christian Kuehne (Morbach, Germany) and Hanno Bartsch (Pretoria, South Africa) completed the sweep 9-7 on the No. 2 court.

Bailey used a second-set tiebreaker to defeat Bocaert 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) on the No. 1 court to tie the match at 1-1, but the Jags closed the match with three-set wins at Nos. 2-4 to clinch the victory.

Bernard dropped his first set in a tiebreaker to Jasmin Ademovic 9-7 at No. 2, but rallied to win the second 6-4 before Ademovic retired in the third down 3-0.

“I’m very proud of Alex,” said Brochu. “He lost the first set and was down in the second, but came back and gave us a good point.”

Leitner and Hall won despite having their matches delayed almost an hour due to darkness. Leitner topped Ristovski 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 at No. 3 and Hall won 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 at No. 4 for the final point.

“Daniel and Cody were leading, but then saw Austin Peay come back,” said Brochu. “They didn’t panic and were able to close the deal in three sets, so that was very good.”

South Alabama starts a spring break trip in Florida Monday at North Florida.

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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