Southern Miss
Jacksonville State
Men's Tennis Drops Home Opener to Jacksonville State
1/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 23, 2011
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss freshman Paulo Alvarado (Manta, Ecuador) captured a singles and doubles match for the Golden Eagles in the team's home opener here Sunday afternoon, but that wasn't enough to defeat Jacksonville State, who captured a 6-1 decision.
Alvardo, along with fellow freshman and Hattiesburg native Alex Doleac, won at No. 2 doubles 9-7 (8-6 in the tiebreaker) over Nenac Marcec and Axel Sundberg of JSU. Alvarado also captured Southern Miss' lone singles victory with a 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 decision over Marcec, while Doleac fell in three sets to Igor Santos 2-6, 6-4, 10-3.
First-year Southern Miss coach, Ki Kroll, liked what he saw out of his younger players as well as the large supportive crowd that was on hand for the team's first home match, but had to play short-handed in the match as the team dressed just five players.
"The freshmen really stepped up for us today and as we get more into the season and they get more experience they are generally going to help a lot," Kroll said. "It's tough right now playing with five players, but we are going to get through this and move forward."
Playing with just five players, the Golden Eagles (0-2) found themselves behind a point following doubles play as Gustavo Holz and Brian Kenyon upended Jan Burmeister (Kronberg, Germany) and Julien Roussel (Paris, France) 8-6 in No. 1 doubles. The Golden Eagles defaulted in the No. 3 doubles match as well giving the visitors the lone doubles' point.
The Golden Eagles, which defaulted at No. 6 singles, had Burmeister fall to Kenyon at No. 1 singles 6-2, 6-2. JSU's Sundberg defeated Roussel 7-5, 6-4 at No. 2 singles, while Holz defeated Stewart Gammill (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 6-0, 6-2.
Southern Miss returns to action next Saturday, Jan. 29, when they play host to Alcorn State. Match time is set for 1:30 p.m.
Jacksonville State 6, Southern Miss 1
Doubles
1 - Gustavo Holz/Brian Kenyon (JSU) def. Jan Burmeister/Julien Roussel 8-6
2 - Paulo Alvarado/Alex Doleac (USM) def. Nenad Marcec 9-7 (8-6)
3 - JSU wins by default
Singles
1 - Brian Kenyon (JSU) def. Jan Burmeister 6-2, 6-2
2 - Axel Sundberg (JSU) def. Julien Roussel 7-5, 6-4
3 - Paulo Alvardo (USM) def. Nenad Marcec 6-4, 4-6, 10-6
4 - Igor Santos (JSU) def. Alex Doleac 2-6, 6-4, 10-3
5 - Gustavo Holz (JSU) def. Stewart Gammill 6-0, 6-2
6 - JSU by default
Records: Jacksonville State 1-1; Southern Miss 0-2
