Complete Results
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The University of South Alabama men's tennis team rallied after dropping the doubles point to earn a 4-3 victory over Southern Miss Saturday in the semifinals of the Middle Tennessee Shootout.
The Jaguars go to 10-7 on the season and will face No. 61 Old Dominion in the finals Saturday. The Golden Eagles fall to 14-6.
"We played for more than four hours and didn't finish until 11:45 pm, so we had to dig deep to win," USA head coach
Nick Brochu said. "Many things didn't go our way and it would have been easy to get angry. The guys kept their cool today.
"Today was a combination of us having a bad day and Southern Miss being in 'the zone,' but our character and experience showed today and the boys pulled it out. It was a good mental win."
After falling behind 1-0, the Jags got three straight singles wins to take a 3-1 advantage. Junior
Tim Srkala (Brno, Czech Republic) evened the score at 1-1 with a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 2, then senior
Daniel Leitner (Niederfischbach, Germany), ranked No. 98 in the nation, bounced back after a first-set loss to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 over
Tarun Surat at No. 1.
"Daniel didn't have a good day but was able to put it together and win an important point in 3 sets at No. 1," Brochu stated.
Sophomore
Tuki Jacobs (Windhoek, Namibia) added to USA's lead when he downed
Brad Marriott 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4.
The Golden Eagles mounted a comeback of their own and picked up wins at No. 3 from
Choa-Yu Huang and No. 5 from
Mikhal Esipov, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and 6-3, 6-4, respectively, to even the match at 3-3, but USA junior
Gerhard Gruindelingh (Pretoria, South Africa) outlasted
Daniel Merker 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4 at No. 6 to give the Jags the victory.
"Gerhard showed a lot of character today," Brochu said. "He had six match points to clinch the victory in straight sets, but it didn't go his way. He had to regroup and win it in a long three-set battle."
In doubles action, the two teams split a pair of 6-3 decisions at the top two spots before Merker and Surat defeated Jacobs and freshman
Olivier Gingras (Quebec, Canada) 6-4 at No. 3 to put USM up 1-0 early.
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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