HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The University of South Alabama men's tennis team defeated Southern Miss 6-1 on Saturday afternoon at Southern Miss Tennis Facility.

"It was a great match today," said South Alabama head coach Nick Brochu. "Even though we won 6-1, it was very close. Every time we took the lead, they came back and tied the match."

The Jaguars took the doubles point with wins on courts one and two.  Loic Cloes and Juan Cruz Soria won their second-straight doubles match 7-5 on court No. 1 over Jorman Reyes and Daniel Merker.  Tuki Jacobs and Olivier Gingras remain undefeated in the spring season with their third-straight win against Wen-Po Tseng and Chao-Yu Huang 7-5 on court No. 2.  Clement Marzol and Pierre Noyon fell in a close match 6-4 to Rakshit Rishi and Mikhail Esipov.

"Doubles was hard today," said Brochu. "We struggle holding serves which almost cost us the doubles point. Tuki Jacobs and Olivier Gingras saved the day for us. They were down 4-1 in doubles and won 6 of the next 7 games to clinch the doubles point and give us the momentum going into singles."

Lucas Gonzales got the first singles point for the Jaguars, winning 6-3, 6-0 against Teeradon Tortrakul on court No. 6.  He has now won three-straight singles matches.

Southern Miss got its lone point in the next match to finish.  Reyes defeated Gingras 6-3, 6-3 on court No. 4.  Soria then defeated Merker 6-3, 6-3 on the second court.  The clinching point came on court No. 5, as Cloes topped Rishi 6-4, 6-3.

Marzol defeated Huang 7-5, 6-3 on court No. 3 before Jacobs wrapped up the match by topping Tseng 6-0, 6-7 (5-7), 11-9 on court No. 1.  Jacobs remains undefeated in the spring with three-straight wins.

"Southern Miss is a team that plays with emotion and they are more dangerous if they get the momentum," said Brochu.  "They won the doubles point against us last year and then rolled in singles. This year was our turn. Our guys played twice as good in big points, and we took advantage of all opportunities to break them. We were strong mentally. I'm very happy with our performance today."

South Alabama returns to action on Sunday with a doubleheader at home alongside the women's team at the Mobile Tennis Center.  The Jags will face Florida A&M at 10:00 a.m. and then Nicholls at 2:30 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).