NASHVILLE, TENN. - The University of South Alabama men's tennis team defeated the Belmont Bruins 4-3, indoors at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday Feb. 16. The Jaguars improved to 5-2 on the season. 

The number 32 ranked doubles duo of Hendrik Inno and Marko Illic defeated South Alabama's Loic Cloes and Clement Marzol, 7-5 to secure the doubles point for the Bruins. The Jaguars entered the singles portion of the match needing to take four of the six points up for grabs. Max Lapraille got the Jags on the board first, and Sacha Modica tied things up at two with his victory over Illic. 

After Marzol defeated Inno in three sets, and Louis Delcour fell in three sets to his opponent, it was down to court five and Sam Serrano. Serrano defeated Vincent Sterkens, 6-4 in the third set for the point and the match. 

DOUBLES
(1) No. 32 Inno/Ilic def No. 11 Cloes/Marzol, 7-5. 
(2) Modica/Lapraille vs. Valy/Khan, 5-6, unfinished. 
(3) Kelly/Sterkens def. Serrano/Di Loreto, 6-3
Order of finish: (3,1)

SINGLES
(1) No. 95 Clement Marzol def. Hendrik Inno, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4.  
(2) Sacha Modica def. Marko Ilic, 6-2, 6-4. 
(3) Joan Valy def. Loic Cloes 6-4, 6-2 
(4) Max Lapraille def. Zak Khan, 6-2, 6-3.
(5) Sam Serrano def. Vincent Sterkens, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.
(6) Jake Briggs def. Louis Delcour, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1. 
Order of finish: (3,4,2,1,6,5)

NOTES
- South Alabama has won five matches in a row after dropping their first two of the season. 
- Serrano clinched the match point for the Jaguars for the second consecutive match. 
- Marzol has won five singles matches in a row for the Jaguars. 

UP NEXT
South Alabama heads to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to take on MTSU on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 11 a.m. at the Adams Tennis Complex. 

QUOTES
Head Coach Nick Brochu
On the Match: "In doubles, we struggled to make the transition from outdoors to indoors. We were over-hitting on a lot of returns. Going to singles, some of our guys were pulling the trigger too soon; trying to go for the big shot, big winner."

"We made tons of mistakes today, it was definitely a bad day for us. We really need to learn to stay in the rally, but we just gave away too many games today. We made it harder for us. We need to cut back on mistakes, in some matches that's what happens. As soon as we started rallying more and being more patient, we won fairly easily. Then, we went back to making mistakes, unforced errors killed us." 

"Thankfully we have guys like Clement Marzol, who even after losing his first set rolled up his sleeves and pulled out a big one. That guy, number one for Belmont is a good player. Marzol had to dig deep to get us that important point. Then, at two and four, Max and Sacha they just played some solid tennis today. At the end, Sam  came through and clinched for us." 

"When you look at it, you're' having a very bad day and you still win. So that can be turned into some positives but we still need to figure some things out before MTSU. Our doubles combinations aren't really working right now so we may try something new tomorrow."  

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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