ResultsOXFORD, Miss. – The No. 74 University of South Alabama men's tennis team lost to No. 19 Ole Miss 7-0 Friday at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
The Jaguars dropped to 8-5 with the loss, while the Rebels improved to 5-2.
"We competed well today," USA head coach
Nick Brochu said. Ole Miss had to play at their top level to beat us."
In doubles,
Stefan Lindmark and
Ricardo Jorge defeated
Dallas Teague (Spanish Fort, Ala.) and
Tim Srkala (Brno, Czech Republic) 6-1 at court No. 2, and No. 54
Filip Kraljevic and
Zvonimir Babic beat
Gerhard Gruindelingh (Pretoria, South Africa) and
Olivier Gingras (Quebec, Canada) 7-5 at the No. 1 court to clinch the doubles point for Ole Miss.
"Doubles was great," Brochu said. "At one point, we were winning on two courts. No. 3 was only two little points from winning their match when the doubles point was clinched. All teams were very competitive and played at a high level."
The singles portion began with No. 69 Lindmark winning 6-0, 6-4 over Srkala at No. 1. Next, Kraljevic won 6-3, 6-2 over
Juan Troglia (Mendoza, Argentina) at court No. 3, and Babic sealed the victory for the Rebels by beating
Lucas Gonzalez (Chateauroux, France) 6-4, 6-1 at No. 6.
"Singles was also very close," Brochu stated. "We were actually right there on four courts, losing close first sets. Pierre even had three match points. Ole Miss just came a little bigger than us on big points to take the first sets."
At the No. 2 court,
Gustav Hansson defeated
Tuki Jacobs (Windhoek, Namibia) 7-5, 6-3, and
Fabian Fallert beat
Pierre Noyon (Oye-Plage, France) 6-2, 4-6, (12-10) at No. 5. To finish the match, Jorge won 7-6, 7-6 (7-3) over Gingras at court No. 4.
"I'm proud of the way we played today," Brochu said. "The guys realized they can compete with the best teams in the nation. We need to maintain that high level of tennis for the rest of the season."
The Jaguars return to action Sunday when they travel back to Mobile to take on No. 75 North Florida.
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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