MOBILE, Ala. — The University of South Alabama men's tennis team shut out the Virginia Commonwealth Rams, 7-0 on Wednesday afternoon on the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.
The Jaguars got off to a hot start in the doubles portion of today's match with Loic Cloes and Clement Marzol easily defeating their opponent 6-3 on court one. Shortly after Sacha Modica and Santiago Di Loreto fell on court two, Maxime Lapraille and Louis Delcour finished off their match with a 6-4 win, taking the doubles point for the Jags.
From there, the Jaguars took care of business on the singles side. Marzol, Modica, and Lapraille each bested their singles opponent in straight sets to give the Jags the 4-0 advantage and the match. The teams played all seven points out, and South Alabama took them all for the win.
DOUBLES
(1) No. 19 Cloes/Marzol def. Stable/Amantegui, 6-3
(2) Noren/Martin def. Modica/Di Loreto, 6-4
(3) Lapraille/Delcour def. Rivero Crespo/Mobius, 6-4
Order of finish: (1,2,3)
SINGLES
(1) Sacha Modica def. Arvid Noren, 6-1, 6-2.
(2) Clement Marzol def. Rayane Stable, 6-0, 6-3.
(3) Loic Cloes def. Phillip Mobius, 2-6, 7-5, 10-2
(4) Sam Serrano def. Inigo Torre Martin, 7-6, 6-3
(5) Maxime Lapraille def. Javier Amantegui, 6-1, 6-3.
(6) Louis Delcour def. Inaki Rivero Crespo, 6-3, 6-2.
Order of finish: (2,1,5,6,3,4)
NOTES
- South Alabama has now won nine matches in a row.
- Clement Marzol has earned the win in his last eight singles matches, and has not lost since the second match of the year.
- The doubles pair of Cloes and Marzol got their first win since Feb. 9 at Samford, and now sit at 5-4 on the season.
- Lapraille improves to 8-2 on the year in his singles matches, with all but one of those wins coming in straight sets.
UP NEXT
South Alabama travels to Beaumont, Texas to face Lamar on Sunday, March 10. First serve is set for 9 a.m.
QUOTES
Head Coach Nick Brochu
On today's win: "I'm actually very impressed. VCU is a tough team; they're ranked 61st in the nation and we are 56th right now. That was supposed to be a battle. Don't get me wrong, it was a battle, but we were just on every single point. That's why it was so dominant. We refused to give the first point and the second point. The deuce point is always important, but I told the guys today to work on the first two points. If we get off to a big start, we're very solid. When you get the deuce, you're going to win some and you're going to lose some. But if we can not give them any free points, and that's what we did today, that's the score you get. We played very solid. In doubles, there was a lot of break—up a break, down a break—so we've got to keep being a little bit more steady in doubles. In singles today, I'm very, very proud of the guys."
On the team's confidence: "It feels good. Nine in a row feels good, but it's just a number. Last year the numbers were not in our favor, but we finished the season very strong and we won the Sun Belt Conference championship. That's what you want to do. Right now we have great momentum, but we've got to keep it going. We're going to Lamar this weekend and after that we go to Florida. That's going to be a big test. When we go to Florida, we're facing three ranked teams—South Florida, North Florida and Central Florida. Those teams finished in the top 50 last year, so that's a big test. We've got to keep the ball rolling. It's fun. The guys are playing big and having fun on the court. They're great teammates and friends outside the court, so they're having a lot of fun as well. It's a great atmosphere."
Senior Sacha Modica
On today's efforts: "I played very well today, actually. I was solid. I attacked when I needed to and I didn't miss too much. Mentally I would say I was pretty composed. After an easy first set it's very easy to lose your concentration and mess it up a bit, which I didn't, so I'm pretty happy."
On the team's confidence: "We're just very strong, one through six. I play one at the moment and there's not that much difference between me and Louis (Delcour) who's playing six right now. We're just very deep and we all want it."
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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