BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The South Alabama men's tennis team began completion at the Samford Invitational Friday in Birmingham, Ala. They kicked off the first day of competition with doubles against North Alabama and singles against Southern Mississippi.
DOUBLES
- Sacha Modica and Samuel Serrano took down the UNA pairing of Hansen and Pimenta 6-2.
- Max Lapraille and Santiago Di Loreto defeated Meslin and Heslin 6-4.
- Ezra Blissard and Nathan Fruh completed the sweep for the Jags in doubles with a 7-6 (4) win over Reasons and Markos.
SINGLES
- Modica defeated Bisht of Southern Miss 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-4 on court 1.
- On court 2, Serrano won in straight sets 7-6 (1), 6-1 over Cecchetto.
- Lapraille fell on court 3 to Tortrakul 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
- Di Loreto was defeated on court 4 6-1, 7-6 (3) by Reyes.
- Collin Scheufler lost to Tsai 6-1, 6-0 on court 5.
- Blissard dropped his match on court 6 to Setiawan 6-4, 6-1.
- Fruh fell 6-2, 6-2 to Kwasniewski on court 7.
THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Nick Brochu
On doubles: "We started the day with strong doubles. We played with a lot of energy and got the early break. It's nice to see our young players at no.3 getting fired up and winning a close match."
On Modica: "In singles, we made some bad shot selections and took chances that cost us some games. Sacha was playing good until he became nervous and forced things and blew his lead in the second set. He managed to get it back together to make a comeback in the third and won it."
On Serrano: "Sam showed a lot of composure. After being down a break, he slowly worked his way back into the match and played a smart tie-breaker to take the first set. He elevated his level in the second to take the early lead and never looked back."
On Lapraille: "Max had a good match. He was able to relax more in the second set to tie the match at one set all, but couldn't get the big points in the third. Good match overall."
On the bottom guys: "The bottom guys showed some good games, but we need to work on consistency from point to point."
—USA—
