MOBILE, Ala. - The University of South Alabama men's tennis team defeated No. 45 Florida Atlantic, 4-2 on Sunday afternoon on the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts to improve to 7-2 on the season. 

After losing the doubles point to the Owls, the Jaguars were in need of four points on the singles side to take the match. Maxime Lapraille quickly took care of his opponent on court five, and got South Alabama on the board. Loic Cloes and Louis Delcour followed suit, defeating their opponents in straight sets. With Sam Serrano going down on court four, the match was 3-2 in favor of the Jaguars. 

Sacha Modica and Jason Legall battled it out on court number one, splitting the first two sets, while Clement Marzol was on court two fighting for the Jags. Marzol fell in the first set to his opponent, but came back strong and won the second set, 6-3 to take it to the third and final set. With all eyes on him, Marzol beat his opponent 6-4 and took the point, securing the match win for the Jaguars. 

DOUBLES
(1) Legall/Garcia def No. 16 Cloes/Marzol, 6-3.
(2) Modica/Serrano vs. Sidney/Laalej, 4-4, unfinished. 
(3) Bekisoglu/Guy def. Lapraille/Di Loreto, 6-2. 
Order of finish: (3,1)

SINGLES
(1) Sacha Modica vs. Jason Legall, 7-6, 5-7, 1-0, unfinished. 
(2) No. 96 Clement Marzol def. Kirac Bekisoglu, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4*
(3) Loic Cloes def. Gabriel Sidney, 6-4, 6-4 
(4) Mehdi Laalej def. Sam Serrano, 6-2, 6-2. 
(5) Maxime Lapraille def. Ignacio Garcia, 6-1, 6-3. 
(6) Louis Delcour def. A. Fernandez Horta, 6-4, 6-3. 
Order of finish: (5,4,3,6,2)

NOTES
- After losing its first two matches of the season, South Alabama has won seven in a row. 
- The Jaguars have surrendered the last three doubles points in their matches. 
- Marzol has won his last seven singles points, taking three down to the final third set. 

UP NEXT
South Alabama remains at home to take on New Orleans on Tuesday, Feb. 26 and Jackson State on Wednesday, Feb. 27. The Jags face New Orleans at 2 p.m. and take on Jackson State at 1 p.m. on the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Courts. 

QUOTES
Head Coach Nick Brochu
On the Match: "What a battle! Really windy and today, I was extremely nervous before the match. We had some really bad weather this week, and we only got to practice twice. I know down in Florida they practice everyday. Going into this match, we were very nervous and it showed in doubles. We made a lot of mistakes that we usually don't make. It took us probably a good hour to get back into the groove. You can't do anything about it; if you can't practice, you can't practice. But we talked after doubles and you have to deal with it. If you're struggling just put the ball in the court. It was good to see the guys not get affected by the amount of practice. It was also very windy today, and I didn't hear one guy complain about that, it goes both ways. Sometimes you need a little extra motivation, to see Max and Louis get us the first set extremely fast gave us a big boost. Followed by Loic, who gave us a quick one. So even though we lost the doubles point, we put three points on the board fairly quickly. That gave us a huge momentum boost. Seeing Sacha win the first set on number one, that was big." 

"Clement is tough he's been with us for three years. He's tough, and showed he isn't going to go away. Just like against MTSU, we started the match on fire, and everyone was doing great. He was the one who dropped the first set, and he came up big again today. It's awesome to see a guy coming back, and at the end he is so composed, he knows what he needs to do. Playing aggressive without taking crazy chances. We knew Sacha was going to come back and take that third set if he had to." 

"FAU, tough team.They are tougher than last year, so this feels awesome. Last year they kind of beat us pretty bad. This year, they are having a great season, ranked top 45 in the country. These guys were loud and very feisty. I think we are starting to come around. From the beginning of the semester, I've seen how talented we are. We have to come together as a team, and the guys are playing for the guy next to them. It's a great win, have to keep it going now." 

Junior Clement Marzol 
"I was really pumped after doubles, even though we lost. We have been in this situation a couple times this year. I know how it feels, and I just wanted to enjoy myself, my teammates, and have some fun." 

"I was very disappointed when I lost the first set. It was tough because we were really close all the time. Every point was 30-40, 40 all. I was about to break the guy and he played very well the first set. I just stayed relaxed and focused and came out with the point. I was in the same situation last weekend at MTSU so I knew what I had to do to get the win." 

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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