STARKVILLE, Miss. | South Alabama used a strong start and continued their momentum through the afternoon to secure a 4-0 win over East Tennessee State in the first road match of the season.
The Jags got an early win at number three doubles, with the duo of
Juan Accossatto and
Martin Bugaj winning 6-1. ETSU earned a win at number one doubles, defeating #16
Jack Clements and
Louis Delcour 6-4. The point was clinched by the number two team of Sébastien Collard and
Maxime St-Hilaire with a 7-6 (7-4) tiebreaker win after a back-and-forth battle with ETSU.
In singles, the Jags won the first set on three courts while ETSU won the first set on the other three. St-Hilaire won his match first, defeating Francisco Lamas of ETSU 6-1, 6-1, to give South a 2-0 advantage in the match.
South pushed the lead to 3-0 overall after Bugaj defeated ETSU's Juan Lombisano 6-1, 6-4. The match was clinched by
Javier Montoya, who battled back after dropping his first set to defeat Lucas Britez 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
At the conclusion of play, South was up on the remaining three courts, with #123 Collard leading Thiago Pernas 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 at number one, Clements leading Adam Nagoudi 2-6, 6-3, 6-5 at number two and Accossatto leading James Sim 7-5, 6-6 (5-1) at number six.
Match Results
January 15, 2023
2 pm – Starkville, Miss.
Singles
1. #123 Sébastien Collard (USA) led Thiago Pernas (ETSU) 5-7, 7-5, 1-0, unfinished
2.
Jack Clements (USA) led Adam Nagoudi (ETSU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-5, unfinished
3.
Maxime St-Hilaire (USA) def. Francisco Lamas (ETSU) 6-1, 6-1
4.
Martin Bugaj (USA) def. Juan Lombisano (ETSU) 6-1, 6-4
5.
Javier Montoya (USA) def. Lucas Britez (ETSU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
6.
Juan Accossatto (USA) led James Sim (ETSU) 7-5, 6-6 (5-1) unfinished
Doubles
1. Peter Kalocsai/Thiago Pernas (ETSU) def. #16
Jack Clements/
Louis Delcour (USA) 6-4
2. Sébastien Collard/
Maxime St-Hilaire (USA) def. Francisco Lamas/Juan Lombisano (ETSU) 7-6 (7-4)
3.
Juan Accossatto/
Martin Bugaj (USA) def. Adam Nagoudi/James Sim (ETSU) 6-1
Quotable from coach Nick Brochu
"It was a good win. ETSU is an established program who wins their conference pretty much every year. They are definitely an experienced team and that was a good win and there's a few good reasons why. Number one is that most of us did not have a good day. We had guys who really struggled and had bad starts, or we lost the first set and had to battle back, or we had the lead and decided to get passive, but at the end of the day we are able to put it together and win. It's always a good feeling to know you can still pull out the win even when you're not having a good day.
The second thing is that we had one of our top players,
Louis Delcour out today because of an injury, so it's a good confidence boost to know you can win even without one of your top players. There is a lot of positive coming out of today. I am proud of the guys for the way they competed. Tomorrow, we have to play better against Mississippi State but at least we did a great job today as far as competing.
Not very happy with doubles, we played some sloppy doubles which is probably why it came all the way down to the end. It was way too close to my liking. Overall, great win, this is going to turn into a very important win for us."
Up Next
South Alabama faces Mississippi State on Monday.
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