Complete Results
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The University of South Alabama men’s tennis team took the doubles point and won three singles matches in straight sets to quickly clinch a 4-1 victory over No. 30 BYU Saturday, the last day of the H-E-B Tournament of Champions.
The Jaguars win their second straight match to improve to 6-6 on the season.
The last time South Alabama defeated a top 30 team was in 2003 when the Jaguars topped No. 19 LSU 4-2 in the NCAA Tournament.
“This morning we talked about how both teams would be mentally and physically tired,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu. “It was also very windy. We made sure that we didn’t use any excuse today and just focused on competing every single point. Beating a team ranked No. 30 in the nation is quite an accomplishment. The guys rose up to the challenge and played awesome.”
BYU’s duo of Keaton Cullimore and John Pearce picked up the first win of the day with an 8-3 victory over sophomore Blake Gregor (Griffith, New South Wales, Australia) and freshman Juan Troglia (Mendoza, Argentina) on the No. 3 court.
USA responded with wins in the next two doubles matches to claim the point. Senior Alex Bernard (Soisy Sur Seine, France) and junior Shayann Vaezzadeh (Bavent, France) topped Travis Fillmore and Spencer Smith 8-4 at No. 2. Sophomore Daniel Leitner (Niederfischbach, Germany) and freshman Gerhard Gruindelingh (Pretoria, South Africa) edged Patrick Kawka and Francis Sargeant 9-7 at the No. 1 spot to secure the doubles point.
“Since BYU plays half of their matches indoors we knew they would be very aggressive players,” said Brochu. “By taking the doubles point from them we broke them mentally. We went into singles and made them run and that worked.”
In singles action, Bernard defeated Smith 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 2 flight to give the Jags a 2-0 lead. Cullimore claimed the only point for the Cougars with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Troglia on the No. 4 court. Vaezzadeh topped Andrey Goryachkov 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 5 flight.
“It was great to see our senior captain Alex bounce back from his two individual losses yesterday and give us a convincing win at No. 2,” said Brochu.
Gruindelingh clinched the match for USA with 7-5, 7-5 victory over Sargeant at No. 3.
“Gerhard played amazing tennis this weekend,” said Brochu. “Winning all three matches at No. 3 as a freshman is big. He is turning into a key player for this team.”
South Alabama is back in action Monday when they face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 10 a.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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