The Southern Miss men’s tennis team lost to South Alabama, 5-2 on Thursday, April 9 at the USM Tennis Courts. The match was USM’s final match of the season before they head to the Conference USA Championships in Norfolk, Virginia.
With the win, South Alabama improved to 14-8 while USM fell to 15-8. The Golden Eagles started off hot in their doubles match with a win. Daniel Merker and Tarun Surat dominated Tuki Jacobs and Juan Troglia en route to a 6-0 win.
South Alabama tied things with a win in the second doubles match. Tim Srkala and Olivier Girgras defeated Alex Doleac and Brad Marriott, 6-2.
South Alabama took the final match a 6-4, after a back and forth match between USM’s Chao-Yu Huang and Wen-Po Tseng and the Jaguars’ Daniel Leitner and Gerhard Gruindelingh. The Jaguars clinched the doubles point.
The Jaguars did not stop there. They took a 2-0 lead after Leitner defeated Surat on court one in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. The next singles match saw USM get on the board after Huang defeated Troglia, 6-3, 6-3.
That would be a moot point for the Golden Eagles as South Alabama took the next three matches, including the clinching match. Marriott did not give up despite knowing his team had already lost the match.
Marriott lost his first set to Girgras 7-5, but won the next one 6-4 to force a tiebreaker. Marriott finished off the comeback in the third set and defeated Girgras, 10-7 to give USM their final point.
Despite losing their final regular season match, the Golden Eagles season continues as they head to Virginia on April 17. The tournament will last the weekend and will be a great test for the Golden Eagles men’s tennis team.
