MOBILE, Ala. – Despite being shorthanded, South Alabama Men's Tennis used a strong singles performance to defeat Southern, 4-0, Sunday afternoon at Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.
 
The Jaguars moved to 1-0 on the season while Southern dropped to 0-3 for the year. South Alabama only had four players available for the match, but still managed to win each singles contest to come away victorious.
 
"It was a good start to the season," said South Alabama head coach Nick Brochu. "We saw some good things and we saw some bad that we need to work on, but that's what the first match is for. Some guys played awesome and some guys were very nervous and got really tight. Our leaders, Javier and Braden, they stepped up and played great."
 
Southern also had just four available players for the match, so both teams needed to win each doubles match in order to claim the doubles point. Braden Hannig and Javier Montoya combined for a 6-3 victory, but Southern claimed the other doubles match, so neither team earned the doubles team point and needed to win every singles match to claim the four points needed to win the match.
 
Juan Accossatto got the momentum going for South by finishing first and winning 6-1, 6-2 to get USA on the board. Hannig finished next with an identical 6-1, 6-2 victory and Montoya claimed a 6-3, 6-2 decision in the number one spot to push the Jags to a 3-0 lead. The match then came down to true freshman Adam Bouyacoub who was making his collegiate debut on Sunday. Bouyacoub won the first set 6-3 and held a 5-3 advantage in the second set and appeared to be cruising to victory. Southern's Mpho Leshoele came back to tie the set at five games apiece, but Bouyacoub rallied to earn the 7-5 victory in the second set. It would prove to be the match-clinching point USA needed.
 
South will now prepare for its first road trip of the season when it heads to Oxford, Miss. for a pair of matches. The Jags will take on Georgia Southern on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 11 a.m. CT. They will then face either Tulane or Ole Miss the following day.
 
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