HARRISONBURG, Va. – South Alabama Men's Tennis earned its first Sun Belt Conference victory of the season Sunday with a 5-2 win over James Madison.
 
The victory improved USA's record to 6-7 on the year with a 1-1 mark in league play.
 
"We came into this match with high expectations. We had a setback on Friday, but we had an excellent practice on Friday and today we had to make sure we got off to a fast start," said head coach Nick Brochu. "Everything was up for grabs today. We told our guys our goal was not only to get four points today, but to get all of them. They kept fighting and kept battling, which was excellent. Overall, I'm satisfied with the way we fought today."
 
The Jags got on the board first by securing the doubles point with a pair of victories. Rostislav Halfinter and Javier Montoya fought through a tiebreak to win 7-6 (7-2). They were followed by Juan Accossatto and Harold van Raemdonck, who secured a 6-3 victory on court three.
 
That momentum carried over to singles where the Jaguars were tested in several close, three-set matches. van Raemdonck earned the first singles point for the Jags by beating Edson Sanchez in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. He would prove to be the only Jaguar to win in two sets as the remainder of the victories took three.
 
Braden Hannig dropped his first set of the match on court four, but cruised to win sets two and three and finish with a score of 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-2. The next to finish was Jack Clements, who won sets one and three to earn a 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 decision. Freshman Theo Mottier then rounded out the team victory for South by defeating Mario Pena 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1.
 
"We knew in singles we were pretty deep, but JMU just kept fighting back," Brochu added. At one point it looked like it was going to be a pretty straightforward win for us, but the wind picked up and some of our guys had trouble with that. At end we had four matches going into three sets, but we fought and battled."
 
The Jaguars will now return home for a pair of home matches on Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24. South Alabama will face Southern Miss in the first match and Louisiana in the second. Both matches will start at 10 a.m. CT.
 
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