Box Score TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The University of South Alabama men's tennis team fell 5-2 to Florida State Friday afternoon at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center in its first dual match of the spring.

Date: 1/17
Place: Scott Speicher Tennis Center (Tallahassee, Fla.)

FLORIDA STATE 5, SOUTH ALABAMA 2

DOUBLES
1. Sebastian Arcila / Alex Knaff (Florida State) def. Clément Marzol / Loïc Cloes (South Alabama), 6-1
2. Loris Pourroy /Juan Martin Jalif (Florida State) vs. Leon Pet'ko / Jordan Coutinho (South Alabama), 5-2 (unfinished)
3. Bryn Nahrung / Richard Thongoana (Florida State) def. Sébastien Collard / Louis Delcour (South Alabama), 6-1
Order of Finish: (3, 1, --)

SINGLES
1. Marzol (South Alabama) def. Knaff (Florida State), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. Cloes (South Alabama) def. Jalif (Florida State), 7-6 (7-3) 3-6, 10-5
3. Arcila (Florida State) def. Delcour (South Alabama), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)
4. Pourroy (Florida State) def. Bugaj (South Alabama), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
5. Rana Roop Bhullar (Florida State) def. Sébastien Collard (South Alabama), 6-4, 6-2
6. Chase Wood (Florida State) def. Jordan Coutinho (South Alabama), 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
Order of Finish: (5, 4, 3, 1, 6, 2)

NOTES
- The match versus the Seminoles marked the first dual match of 2020 for South Alabama.
- Marzol picked up one of the Jags two singles victories with a three-set singles win at the No. 1 position. The singles win as his eighth of the season and the 65th of his career.
- Also picking up a singles win for South was Cloes who won his 81st career singles match.
- The match was the 17th in the all-time series on Florida State's home court and the fifth time that the Seminoles have been the first dual match of the season for the Jags.

UP NEXT
- The Jaguars will travel to College Station, Texas, to take part in the ITA Kickoff Weekend. USA will open up with No. 9 Texas A&M on Sat., Jan. 25 at 10 a.m. and then take on either Georgia Tech or Oregon on Sun., Jan. 26 at 2 p.m.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Nick Brochu
- On the match: Today's match was a really good battle, and unfortunately we weren't able to pull out the win. I'm not necessarily disappointed because we are a very young team, and when you're young and don't have a lot of experience you're going to have a lot of swings in momentum in a match. I think that's what happened. The four singles matches that we lost could have gone our way because we had our chances. We were up a break and serving for the set in some of those matches, but we faced a very composed and experienced Florida State team and they came up big in those games. That was a big difference in today's match. Talent wise, we were definitely there with Florida State and we went toe-to-toe with them. I really felt we were going to be able to swing one if not two more singles matches our way.  We were able to win at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions and that's very encouraging for the rest of the team."
- On what to take from the match heading forward: "There were some very positive things. We saw some of our freshmen going up against a tough team and doing well in some spots. Our guys are disappointed with the loss and they aren't satisfied with coming close. They aren't satisfied with just playing with a good team. We believe we should have won today and that's a good feeling to have when you lose. We're going to get back to work as we will face a few similar teams next weekend. Hopefully our guys learned a lot from this weekend. We want to compete hard in these January matches. We're learning really fast and we have to keep our foot on the gas and keep going."
- On doubles: "We have a lot of work to do in doubles. We have good doubles players, but we don't seem to make the right shots when it matters. We also need to hold serves better. We can't compete against good teams if we always start from behind."

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

—USA—