Results

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The University of South Alabama men's tennis team fell to No. 66 Georgia State 6-1 in the first match of the MT Shootout at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center on Friday.

The loss breaks the Jaguars' four-match win streak and results in a 12-8 overall record for their spring season, while Georgia State's record is now 11-4.

"It was a good battle today, and the 6-1 score is not representative of the match," USA head coach Nick Brochu said.

At the No. 1 spot in doubles action, Georgia State's Sebastian Acuna and Andrei Andrukhou defeated senior Gerhard Gruindelingh (Pretoria, South Africa) and sophomore Olivier Gringas (Quebec, Canada) 6-2. With the same 6-2 score, senior Tim Srkala (Brno, Czech Republic) and fellow senior Juan Troglia (Mendoza, Argentina) defeated Zackery Kennedy and Jack MacFarlane on the No. 2 court to claim the Jaguars' first win.

The No. 3 court featured junior Tuki Jacobs (Windhoek, Namibia) and fellow junior Pierre Noyon (Oye-Plage, France), and they were edged 6-3 by Felipe Jaworski and Jannis Koeke to lose the doubles point.

"Doubles was very important," Brochu said. "We weren't clicking at No. 1 and got behind early in the match. Our No. 2 played solid and showed great chemistry. It came down to No. 3 and we got unlucky on many important points."

In singles play, MacFarlane won over Gingras in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3, in the No. 5 spot. On the No. 6 court, Jaworski defeated freshman Lucas Gonzalez (Chateauroux, France) 6-1, 6-4, while Troglia fell to Acuna 6-3, 6-3 on No. 3. With a score of 6-4, 6-3, Jacobs defeated Koeke in the No. 1 spot to earn South Alabama's first point of the match.

The last two singles matches featured tiebreaker scores of 7-6 in the first set. Srkala fell to Kennedy 7-6, 6-2 on the No. 2 court, while Andrukhou defeated Noyon 7-6, 6-4 at No. 4.   

"Singles started well, and both teams showed a lot of energy. Georgia State got two quick first sets on courts 5 and 6, but we were head-to-head on all the other matches," Brochu commented. "Dropping those two 7-6 sets on courts 2 and 4 really hurt us. If we would have won those two sets, we would have been ahead on three courts. That would have put more pressure on Georgia State and we would have had to come back on only one court instead of three.
 
"We still feel confident after today's loss. We may see them at the conference tournament in a few weeks and we know what we have to work on."

South Alabama takes on Middle Tennessee, ranked No. 62, on Saturday at 2 p.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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