Complete Results

MOBILE, Ala. – After dropping the doubles point, the University of South Alabama men's tennis team rallied back with four singles wins in straight sets to defeat Southern Miss 4-3 on Wednesday at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.

The Jaguars added to their two-match win streak and improved to 7-3 in their spring campaign, while the Golden Eagles fell to 5-5 overall.

"Everyone gave an excellent effort today," said USA head coach Nick Brochu. "I'm very disappointed the way we played doubles though, but we had a big turnaround in singles."

Faced with a 1-0 deficit, No. 104 junior Daniel Leitner (Niederfischbach, Germany) picked up his eighth-straight win and tied the match at 1-1 when he downed Brad Marriott 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 1 spot. Freshman Tuki Jacobs (Windhoek, Namibia) gave the Jags a 2-1 lead when he topped Alex Doleac at No. 3. Juan Escobar followed up with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Juan Troglia (Mendoza, Argentina) on the No. 6 court to even the match at 2-2.

"Once again, we got some quick wins from Daniel and Tuki," said Brochu. "It is such a big advantage, as far as confidence goes, to get up on the board really early. Those two guys really stepped up."

Senior Shayann Vaezzadeh (Bavent, France) defeated Chao-Yu Huang 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4 and junior Manuel Belda (Posadas, Misiones, Argentina) secured the match for South Alabama with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 win over Paulo Alvarado in the No. 2 flight.

"Manuel played their best player and he was down in the first set and came back and just played amazing," said Brochu. "He was able to get the first set and after that he was able to break the guy mentally and run away with a 6-0 win in the second set. I'm very proud of him."

Vasco Valverde earned the final point for the Golden Eagles when he outlasted sophomore Gerhard Gruindelingh (Pretoria, South Africa) 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 on the No. 4 court.

In doubles action, Belda and Gruindelingh got USA on the board with an 8-3 win over Marriott and Doleac on the No. 1 court. USM responded with Escobar and Alvarado's 8-4 victory over senior Vaezzadeh and Troglia at No. 3.

Huang and Valverde clinched the doubles point for Southern Miss when they dropped Leitner and sophomore Sean Robinson (Diamondhead, Miss.) 8-5 in the No. 2 flight.

"We came out a little flat at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions in doubles," said Brochu. "We played what I call 'shy tennis'. We played to not lose, instead of playing to win and Southern Miss was much louder than us and it did not feel like we were playing at home. After doubles we had a big talk and we went into singles really on fire. We got three early breaks and we won the first set on five of six courts."

The Jaguars are back in action Feb. 28-March 1 at the H-E-B Invitational in Corpus Christi, Texas.

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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