ORLANDO – The University of South Alabama No. 29 men's tennis team (16-3) fell 6-1 at UCF on Sunday afternoon at the USTA National Campus.  The loss ended the Jaguars' 15-match win streak that was just one short of tying the longest victory streak in program history.
 
"Today was hard," said South Alabama head coach Nick Brochu. "It was a combination of UCF playing well and we were struggling holding serve. Losing the doubles point after being up took the air out of our lungs. Even though it is not an excuse we had a really slow start going into singles, going down a break early on 5 of the 6 courts. We can't offer that against a competitive UCF team. We fought back but we couldn't catch up on most courts."
 
The Knights claimed the doubles point to start the match.  Freshman Loic Cloes (Remicourt, Belgium) and senior Juan Cruz Soria (San Juan, Argentina) defeated No. 78 Harrison Richmond and Mariano Porter 6-2 on court No. 1, but the Knights took the other two matches for the doubles point.  Chris Barrus and Ernrique Paya beat senior Tuki Jacobs (Windhoek, Namibia) and sophomore Lucas Gonzalez (Chateauroux, France) 6-2 on court No. 3 and Danny Kerznerman and Korey Lovett clinched the point by topping junior Oliver Gingras (Quebec City, Quebec, Canada) and freshman Clement Marzol (Toulouse, France) 7-6 (7-3) on court No. 2.
 
In singles Kalman Boyd beat Gonzalez 6-0, 6-3 on court No. 6 for the first singles point, and then Barrus defeated Marzol on court No. 3 6-4, 6-3.  Porter's 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 win over Cloes on court No. 5 clinched the win for UCF.
 
Kerznerman beat Gingras 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 on court No. 3, and No. 82 Jacobs lost 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7-2) on court No. 2 to Richmond.  The Jags' lone point came on court No. 1, as Soria topped No. 44 Lovett 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
 
"We need to regroup and get ready for the last two matches of this long trip," said Brochu.
 
The Jags will stay in Florida and take on Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.
 
Join the Baseline Club, the tennis-specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All donations to the Baseline Club go directly to support the South Alabama men's and women's tennis programs. For more information on how you can join visit:  http://jaguarathleticfund.com/sports/2013/3/13/Baseline%20Club.aspx?id=24
 
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