TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In its second-consecutive match against a ranked opponent, the South Alabama men's tennis team dropped a 6-1 decision to No. 14 Florida State Sunday afternoon.
The setback dropped the Jaguars to 4-5 overall for the season.
"Today was a slow start. I don't think we came out flat, I think we were just surprised how many balls Florida State brought back," said head coach Nick Brochu. "I don't know why we were surprised. Florida State is a top-15 team in the nation for a reason. I think us being surprised by that was our big mistake today."
The Jags started the day by dropping the doubles point. Before Florida State secured the doubles win,
Juan Accossatto and Harold van Raemdonck were in a tight battle with their FSU opponent. The score was at 4-3 in the Seminoles' favor before they won the other two matches to earn the first point.
"In doubles, we hit big serves but they were coming back just as fast," Brochu added. "That probably took us an entire round of doubles to adjust to and get used to the pace of the ball."
In singles, South played multiple tight matches, but
Braden Hannig was the lone Jaguar to come away with a victory at the number six spot. Hannig's score of 6-3, 6-4 was good for the only point of the day for USA.
Jack Clements also played a big match against the No. 13 player in the country, but ultimately fell 6-4, 6-4. In addition to Hannig's win, Harold van Raemdonck was the other Jaguar to win a set on the day. He would go on to fall in three sets by a score of 6-2, 4-6, 3-6.
"On a positive note, we had some guys who played some big-time tennis today," Brochu said. "Starting with Jack, he was our leader today. He played great and was a very good leader for us today vocally. Braden also stepped up big time. He was put under pressure on a lot of deuce points and responded very well. He got us a big win."
The Jaguars will now remain in Florida with matches at UCF and North Florida on Tuesday, March 5 and Thursday, March 7, respectively.
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