MOBILE, Ala. | South Alabama opened Sun Belt play with a ranked win over No. 75 Old Dominion, beating the Monarchs 4-3 at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.
 
In an intense doubles play sequence that took over an hour and where all three matches went to tiebreakers. the Monarchs struck first with a 7-6 win at number one, where the No. 47 duo of Younes Lalami and Brandon Perez beat Jack Clements and Maxime St-Hilaire. South evened the doubles score with a win at number two, where Sebastien Collard and Martin Bugaj beat Luca Maldoner and Jakob Cadonau 7-6.
 
Attention turned to court three, where Old Dominion came out on top, clinching the doubles point with a 7-6 win from Francois Le Tallec and Cosme Rolland De Ravel beat Louis Declour and Juan Accossotto.
 
Down 1-0, South looked to singles, where they won first sets on all six courts.
 
Sebastien Collard evened the score at 1-1 with a win at number one, beating Younes Lalami 6-2, 6-0.
 
South took the 2-1 lead with a win from Javier Montoya at number six, beating Luca Maldoner in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
 
Old Dominion evened the match again, this time at 2-2, where Codie van Schalkwyk of Old Dominion got a comeback win over Jack Clements, beating him 3-6, 6-0, 6-0.
 
The Monarchs took a 3-2 advantage with a win at number two, where Francois Le Tallecof ODU issued Maxime St-Hilaire 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 loss.
 
The Jags evened the score at 3-3 with a win from senior Louis Delcour at number three, where Delcour beat Cosme Rolland De Ravel 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.
 
With the match tied at 3-3, attention turned to number five, where Martin Bugaj and Jakob Cadonau where in a three set battle, where Bugaj came out victorious, beating Cadonau of ODU 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.
 
South (8-7, 1-0) continues Sun Belt play at home this weekend, hosting James Madison Sunday at 11 a.m.   
 
Match Results
March 18, 2023
11 am – Mobile, Ala.     
Singles
1. Sebastien Collard (USA) def. Younes Lalami (ODU) 6-2, 6-0
2. Francois Le Tallec (ODU) def. Maxime St-Hilaire (USA) 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-2
3. Louis Delcour (USA) def. CosmeRollandDeRavel (ODU) 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-3
4. Codie van Schalkwyk (ODU) def. Jack Clements (USA) 3-6, 6-0, 6-0
5. Martin Bugaj (USA) def. Jakob Cadonau (ODU) 7-6, 5-7, 6-4
6. Javier Montoya (USA) def. Luca Maldoner (ODU) 6-2, 6-2
 
Doubles
1. #47 Younes Lalami/Brandon Perez (ODU) def. Jack Clements/Maxime St-Hilaire (USA) 7-6
2. Sebastien Collard/Martin Bugaj (USA) def. Luca Maldoner/Jakob Cadonau (ODU) 7-6
3. Francois Le Tallec/CosmeRollandDeRavel (ODU) def. Louis Delcour/Juan Accossatto (USA) 7-6
 
Quotable from coach Nick Brochu
"What an amazing preview of a new rivalry with Old Dominion. When ODU joined the Sun Belt, we knew they were going to be a massive contender. We've seen them in the rankings in the past. Right away we knew it was a massive match and it ended up being the first conference match of the year, no easy warm up. I told my guys the match was huge. We knew the doubles point would be big. I'll be honest, I was extremely mad the way we lost the doubles point. There's no way we should lost at number three. We were up a break twice and when you play doubles, if you're up a break twice, there's no way you should be losing that match. We made some crucial mistakes, and it costs us thee match. That match should have never been to the tiebreaker at number three.
 
I told my guys it was only one point and we need to go back and give them a warm welcome to the Sun Belt and to be honest with you, they probably don't know what hit them. We came back storming, winning the first set on all courts. When you have a really tough match like this, you look to your seniors and Seb just destroyed that other guy. He probably missed two balls the whole matched, he played almost perfect. He gave nothing for the other guy to come back with. That's what you expect from your seniors and your captain. He really put us on the board and were at one all. Then we started winning first sets everywhere and then we kind of settled down and we were looking really good. ODU is a tough team who is well coached, and they are not going to go away and they are one of the top dogs in the Sun Belt and they showed it today. They came back and even took a 3-2 lead overall. Louis was down a break in the third and came back and showed a lot of leadership. That match was full of emotion. They were loud and it was amazing to watch a top level of play.
 
Martin was not feeling the ball well early on and playing bad in the first set, and after he won the first set playing bad, we talked about it and how he needed to play a little better. He then dropped the second set and he got a little nervous but in the third, he had a lot of chances and could have won 6-1, but at the end of day who cares about the scores, did you win or did you lose? He took care of business at the end.  This is a good win. We played tough at every single position, Javi down at number six, what great win. He had a tough won to swallow when we lost 4-3 at Miami, he was the last match, so this was a big match for him. Good job for him. Now we are showing everyone we are tough at every position in singles and doubles."
 
Up Next
South Alabama stays at home through the weekend, hosting James Madison Sunday at 11 a.m.   
 
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