MOBILE, Ala. - The University of South Alabama men's tennis team will head out to Los Angeles, Calif., to participate in the University of Southern California region at the 2019 ITA Kickoff weekend. The Jags will be the third seed in the tournament after selecting the spot with the 39th selection in the draft held last summer. 

South will take on the Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara in a duel match format on Saturday, Jan. 26 at 10 a.m. (PST). The outcome of that match will determine who the Jags will play on Sunday with the winner going on to face the winner of No. 5 ranked USC and Cal Poly, with the losers playing each other as well. 

The Los Angeles regional boasts eight singles players ranked in the ITA top 125 as of the latest rankings conducted at the end of the fall 2018 season. No. 6 Nicolas Moreno De Alboran of UC Santa Barbara checks in at the highest ranking, followed by No. 8 Daniel Cukierman of USC, No. 19 Laurens Verboven of USC, No. 22 Joseph Guillin of UC Santa Barbara, No. 32 Logan Smith of USC, No. 34 Tanner Smith of USC, No. 47 Bradley Frye of USC, and No. 56 Jake DeVine of USC. 

While South Alabama places no singles players in the top 125, the doubles team of Loic Cloes and Clement Marzol finished up the fall as the No. 16 pair in the country, and head into the weekend as the highest ranking duo in the four-team field. The pair of Daniel Cuckerman and Tanner Smith come in at No. 46 for the Trojans and are the only other doubles team in the top 60. 

DUEL INFORMATION
Dates: January 26-27
Place: Marks Stadium
Participants: No. 5 USC, UC Santa Barbara, South Alabama, Cal Poly

NOTES
These two matches will be the Jaguars second and third of the season. Last weekend, the Jags went to No. 20 ranked Florida State and fell 5-2 in a dual match to Florida State at the Florida State Indoor Tennis Courts in Tallahassee, Fla. 

QUOTES
Head Coach Nick Brochu
On the weekend: "This is a big weekend for the team. All four teams finished top 60 last year, including USC who is No. 5 right now. It will be a great battle against UCSB. They finished two spots in front of us last year. Coach David always has a great team. We've seen his top two players at Nationals last November in Arizona. Great players. We had a good match last week against FSU. We identified a few things we needed to work on this week. The guys are excited to get on the road and compete.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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/baselineclub

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