HATTIESBURG, Miss. – University of South Alabama sophomore Daniel Leitner (Niederfischbach, Germany) and junior Shayann Vaezzadeh (Bavent, France) won both of their matches at the top two flights at the first day of the Southern Miss Invitational on Friday.

The Jaguars also got singles wins from senior Cody Hall (Albuquerque, N.M.) and sophomore Blake Gregor (Griffith, New South Wales, Australia).

“Today was a long day,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu. “Some guys played around six hours of tennis. It was a good test to see if we are fit. We did great.”

Leitner and Vaezzadeh did not lose a set in their four combined wins. Leitner dropped just seven games total on the day, defeating Vinay Kamineni of New Orleans 6-1, 6-1 and Cahit Kapukiran of Stetson 6-3, 6-2.

Vaezzadeh nearly whitewashed Hossam Meligy of UNO 6-0, 6-1 and outlasted Laurynas Antropikas of Stetson after a first-set tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.

“It is good to see Daniel and Shayann continue their great play from this past weekend at New Orleans,” said Brochu. “They dominated their opponents today. It feels good to have the guys on top of the lineup play hard and win all their matches.  They are great leaders for the fall.”

The Jags split their four matches at Flights 3 and 4. Hall fell in his opener 3-6, 6-2, (12-10) to Rui Silva of UNO but bounced back to defeat Didrik Berg of Stetson 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

Gregor won his opener vs. New Orleans’ Lovro Curcija 6-4, 6-2 before losing to Stetson’s Egor Panyushkin 6-2, 6-2.

USA’s Sebastian Kirmse (Lauffen, Germany) and Jan Hellmich (Muelheim, Germany) both went 0-2 on the day at the bottom two flights.

In doubles action, Troy won all three matchups. Sami Ghorbel and Patrick Eichler defeated Leitner and Gregor 9-7, Anas Rouchdi and Mansingh Athare downed Vaezzadeh and Hall 8-5, and Josh Hurd and Tommy Cundy topped Kirmse and Hellmich 8-1.

South Alabama will face host Southern Miss and UAB tomorrow in singles and Lamar in doubles.

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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