MOBILE, Ala. – For the second week in a row, the University of South Alabama men's tennis team will split and compete at two different tournaments as four members will travel to Birmingham, Ala., to participate in the Samford Round Robin this weekend, while Loïc Cloes and Clément Marzol will travel to Tulsa, Okla., to take part in the prestigious Saint Francis Health System ITA All-American Championships for the second straight season.

Cloes and Marzol will begin singles play in the qualifying round on Monday and then doubles competition in the main draw on Wednesday.

MATCH INFORMATION
Tournament Name: Samford Round Robin
Host: Samford
Dates: 10/4-6
Place: Pat M. Courington Tennis Pavilion / Darwin C. Hardison Courts (Birmingham, Ala.)

ON THE COURT FOR THE JAGUARS
- Martin Bugaj (Fr., Hodonín, Czech Republic, 4-3 Singles, 3-3 Doubles)
- Sébastien Collard (Fr, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, 3-3 Singles, 3-3 Doubles)
- Louis Delcour (So., Lille, France, 2-1 Singles, 1-1 Doubles)
- Leon Pet'ko (Fr., Bratislava, Slovakia, 1-1 Singles, 2-1 Doubles)


Tournament Name: Saint Francis Health System ITA All-American Championships
Host: Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) / Tulsa
Dates: 10-5/13
Place: Michael D. Case Tennis Center / Philcrest Hills Tennis Club / Union 9th Grade Center (Tulsa, Okla.)

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Qualifying Rounds – Oct. 7-8
Main Draw – Oct. 9-13

ON THE COURT FOR THE JAGUARS
- Loïc Cloes (Sr., Oreye, Belgium, 3-3 Singles, 2-1 Doubles)
- Clément Marzol (Sr., Toulouse, France, 5-1 Singles, 4-2 Doubles)

NOTES
- Cloes and Marzol received a bid to compete in the doubles qualifying round of the tournament last month, but were moved up into the main draw.
- Likewise, the duo originally received bids to begin play in the prequalifying round of singles, but both were bumped up into the qualifying round.
- Cloes and Marzol advanced to the doubles quarterfinal round of the main draw last fall before falling to Florida's Andy Andrade and Oliver Crawford.
- This marks the 15th-straight year Tulsa serves as the official tournament host.
- The men's finals of the Saint Francis Health System ITA All-American Championships will air live in prime time on ESPNU at 8 p.m. (CT) on Oct. 13.
- The men's singles quarterfinalists, consolation finalists, plus the doubles semifinalists and consolation finalists will earn automatic entry into the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships slated for Nov. 6-10 in Newport Beach, Calif.

UP NEXT
- Following this week's action, South Alabama is scheduled to compete at the ITA Southern Regionals in Auburn, Ala. (Oct. 17-20).

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Nick Brochu
- On competing at the Samford Round Robin this weekend: "I think our players learned a lot at the Southern Miss Invitational last weekend. They played a lot of matches in singles and doubles against good teams. Samford's tournament will be a step up and some of our opponents are going to be from some Power 5 schools. It will be a bigger test for them, but I feel that the guys are learning at every tournament and that's the key for us."
- On the goals of playing tournaments during the fall: "The fall is all about learning things from tournament to tournament and trying to fix a few things one tournament at a time. I think everyone's doing a great job of that and getting better. With us sending our young players to this tournament, we are excited about getting them more experience. We are going to try some different doubles combinations and see where we can find the best chemistry and who compliments each other the best. In the fall, you don't only evaluate performance based on wins and losses, but it's more about how long you can maintain a high level of play, energy and focus from match to match."
- On the ITA All-American: "The All-American is a big tournament – probably the second biggest fall tournament in the country – with some of the top players. Last year, we competed at it with Loïc and Clément, and they were in a similar situation competing in the qualifying round of singles and main draw of doubles. They both were phenomenal in singles and reached the main draw where they had some great matches. Clem came up with a bunch of singles wins against nationally ranked players.

"This tournament gives you an opportunity to pick up some key wins that are going to help your singles ranking and potentially help you earn a spot for the NCAA Individual tournament in May. We also had great success in doubles at this event last season. Both players are excited to go back and compete at this event. They advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles play and fell a few games short of automatically qualifying for the Fall Nationals, which they were eventually able to qualify for. This year, they are very hungry. They had a great showing at the Alabama tournament to open the fall and they've both been working hard. We're going to be able to play teams from the West Coast, Northeast and other parts of the country that we don't really see during the spring. It's a great opportunity for both of them and we will just have to play it one match at a time."

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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