MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's tennis team rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the match before falling 4-3 to Florida Atlantic Saturday afternoon at the FAU Tennis Complex.
Louis Delcour gave the Jaguars their first point, with Loïc Cloes and Martin Bugaj following with victories as well.
FLORIDA ATLANTIC 4, SOUTH ALABAMA 3
Date: 2/8
Place: FAU Tennis Complex (Boca Raton, Fla.)
DOUBLES
1. Maxime Lapraille / Filip Krolo (FAU) def. Cloes / Sébastien Collard (USA), 7-5
2. Jason Legall / Alvaro Fernandez Horta (FAU) def. Clément Marzol / Leon Pet'ko (USA), 6-2
3. Delcour / Bugaj (USA) def. Yovan Lambros / Thomas Guy (FAU) 6-4
Order of Finish: (2, 3, 1)
SINGLES
1. Cloes (USA) def. Legall (FAU), 7-6 (7-4), 6-1
2. Lapraille (FAU) def. Marzol (USA), 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
3. Fernandez Horta (FAU) def. Collard (USA), 6-2, 6-1
4. Delcour (USA) def. Krolo (FAU, 6-4, 6-1
5. Bugaj (USA) def. Gerard Escandell (FAU), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
6. Lambros (FAU) def. Jordan Coutinho (USA), 6-4, 6-2
Order of Finish: (3, 6, 4, 1, 5, 2)
NOTES
- South Alabama is now 2-5 while Florida Atlantic improves 4-5.
- Cloes improved to 2-0 at the No. 1 position this spring.
- Bugaj has now won three of his last four singles matches.
- It was the first time Delcour and Bugaj have been paired in doubles in the spring as they moved to 4-3 overall as a team on the season.
- Bugaj has now won three of his last four singles matches.
- The doubles victory was Delcour's first of the spring campaign.
- The Jaguars will host Florida Atlantic later in the season on April 10 at 3 p.m.
UP NEXT
-The Jags will return home to host Xavier (La.) on Friday at 2 p.m. (CT).
THEY SAID IT
Head coach Nick Brochu
- On today's match: "What a battle but at the same time it is very, very disappointing. Looking at the scoreboard yes, it did come down to the last match at No. 2. Yes, we made a big comeback, and, yes, the guys fought really hard, but at the same time we have to look at the big, big picture. In doubles, we were in position to win on all three courts early in the match; we just gave back the break, that is why it's so frustrating. People say doubles are only one point. Well, when you lose 4-3 that point, looking back, is pretty big. We just didn't execute well, which was very frustrating in doubles."
- On singles play: "Going into singles, well, the problem all year has been inconsistency. I mean, we are very fortunate to have our top two players. They show up every day, and they put up a battle every single match. They can compete with anybody in the country. Now, we need to work on the remaining guys on the team. We're not going to point fingers at one guy — this is a team loss — but at the same time that's something we need to look at ourselves in the mirror. We need to bring up the expectations. It's expectations toward the teammates. You owe it to your teammates to go out there and — win or lose — you have to put up a fight. Win or lose, you have to stay out there because there's nothing worse than going down 3-0 within 45 minutes. It's extremely tough mentally for the remaining guys to come back and fight. We almost did it today.
- On the deciding singles match: "It came down to Clem — who played for about three hours yesterday — against Max, who was very, very fresh. Now, I want to give credit to Max. He used to be one of our players, and he fought extremely hard today and he earned it. He really played well. Clem was fighting extremely hard. It was an excellent match that could've gone either way. But at the end of the day, I don't think it should've come down to No.2. We should have taken advantage of the opportunity that we had.
- Moving forward: "We have a very young team, but now we have to turn it up. They're still getting used to college pressure, but now it's time to deliver. We're not hitting the panic button yet, that's not a problem. We still have a good month to get ready for the conference schedule, but at the same time our goal is not only to win the conference. Our goal is to beat nationally-ranked teams and be top 15 in the nation, and so far we have missed about five chances to do so. We've got a couple more before we start the conference schedule, but this is definitely disappointing. We know what we're capable of and we're underperforming right now so we need to get back at practice. I have to work hard as well. It starts from coaches to players. We've got a week to practice before we play at home and we definitely have to see a really big improvement from A to Z after this weekend."
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—
