FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In a tightly-contested match, South Alabama dropped its first contest of the season to New Mexico, 6-1, Saturday afternoon in Arkansas.
The setback dropped the Jaguars to 2-1 on the season.
"It was a very competitive match," said South Alabama head coach Nick Brochu. "I'm a little disappointed because in doubles it looked like we had it, but you've got to finish the match. That's the thing in tennis, you can't run out the clock, you've got to win the last point. I think we got a little too passive."
The Jags were close in doubles as
Jack Clements and
Braden Hannig were in a tight match down 5-4 before Rostislav Halfinger and
Juan Accossatto dropped their contest 7-5. New Mexico was able to clinch the doubles point with that win after
Javier Montoya and Theo Mottier were defeated in their matchup.
Singles play provided the Jags their lone victory of the afternoon as Halfinger defeated his Lobo opponent 7-6 (7-4), 7-5. Many of South's other matches were close, but nobody could close out a victory which provided New Mexico with the 6-1 victory on the day.
"I'm very impressed how we were able to compete that hard for that long," Brochu added. "It's very early in the season, and we're looking good already. On some courts, we had the chance to grab the momentum and extend leads, but we didn't do that. That was probably one of the negative parts of singles. Some of our guys were a little nervous and tentative, so we didn't play with as much pressure as we should have, and that opened the door for New Mexico to come back. Every match was extremely close. We walked out of that match feeling good, and thinking that was a good battle. I'm very proud of our young team."
The Jaguars will get back to work quickly as they stay in Fayetteville to challenge host Arkansas on Sunday afternoon. First serve between the Jags and Razorbacks is slated for noon CT.
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