Complete Results

MOBILE, Ala. – After securing the doubles point, the University of South Alabama men's tennis team won three singles matches in straight sets to top Nicholls State 6-1 Saturday at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.

The Jaguars improved to 2-2 overall, while the Colonels fell to 0-1 in their spring campaign.

"This match was tough," said USA head coach Nick Brochu. "Nicholls State came to play, but we answered very well. I think we need to work harder and be a little more aggressive from the beginning. Winning the doubles point was big today. If you give a team like Nicholls State hope, that's when they become dangerous, so we had to make sure to win the doubles point and then we needed quick wins in singles."

The Jags took the doubles points with two wins in tiebreakers. Junior Manuel Belda (Posadas, Misiones, Argentina) and sophomore Juan Troglia (Mendoza, Argentina) picked up the first win of the day with their 6-5 (7-3) victory over Lukas Clemens and Bernard Wezeman at the No. 1 spot. Freshman Tuki Jacobs (Windhoek, Namibia) and sophomore Gerhard Gruindelingh (Pretoria, South Africa) secured the point for USA with a 6-5 (7-2) win over Jeoffrey Noblecourt and Nico Mertens at No. 3.

"Manuel and Juan responded very well," said Brochu. "They got put into some really tough situations and worked and fought their way out. That was really good to see and they set the tone for the rest of the match. I'm very proud of those two guys."

In singles action, USA picked up a quick win on the No. 1 court when No. 117 junior Daniel Leitner (Niederfischbach, Germany) downed Wezeman 6-0, 6-0. Gruindelingh edged Noblecourt 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 5 flight to give South Alabama a 3-0 lead.

"Our team captain, Daniel, won his match in 29 minutes to put us up 2-0," said Brochu. "So that made everyone relax and we were able to win two more points relatively quickly. This year we talked about if he has a chance of finishing quickly and really controlling the pace and the speed of the match then he has to do it. Since the beginning of this season he has dominated three matches out of four and he's still undefeated. I'm very proud of him. He's doing his job as a captain and as No. 1, so I couldn't ask for a better start for him."

Senior Shayann Vaezzadeh (Bavent, France) rallied back after being down 4-3 in the first set to defeat Clemens 6-4, 6-1 at No. 3 to clinch the match for the Jags.

Mertens claimed the only point for NSU with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Jacobs at the No. 2 spot. Troglia defeated Sam Messeen 6-1, 6-4 in the No. 6 flight, and Belda outlasted Evan Karatzas 2-6, 6-2, (10-6) at No. 6 to pick up the final point for USA.

South Alabama returns to action Jan. 25 as they host Jackson State at 11 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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