Southern Miss
Florida A&M
Men's Tennis Team Opens Spring Season with a Win
1/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss men's tennis team battled the cold and wind in picking up a 4-2 victory over Florida A&M (0-2) Friday afternoon in the season opener at the USM Tennis Courts.
"It is always good to start the season with a team win," Head Coach Zubin Engineer said. "The team came back strongly after the doubles loss to win 4-2. Our goal is always to play the very best we are capable of on that day."
The Golden Eagles (1-0) got off to a slow start in doubles, falling to the visitors at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. FAMU's Walner Espinoza and Carlos Waitman defeated Chao-Yu Huang and Wen-Po Tseng 6-3. Jalen Evans and Hema Hasona (FAMU) downed Mikhail Esipov and Jorman Reyes 6-4. Daniel Merker and Tarun Surat was leading 5-4 at No. 2 doubles when the match ended.
Southern Miss regrouped in the singles competition, winning four of the six singles. Teeradon Tortrakul put the Golden Eagles on the scoreboard with a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 6 against Evans. Merker than added another Golden Eagle point with a straight set win over Illy Skoromnyy (FAMU) 6-3, 6-3. Tseng followed with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 2 over Waitman.
Courage Okungbowa earned the Rattlers their second point with a 7-5, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles against Surat.
Huang clinched the match for the Golden Eagles with a three-set win over Espinoza 6-1, 4-6, 6-0.
Rakshit Rishi and Hasona (FAMU) were in the third set when the match was called.
Southern Miss is back in action with a pair of matches against Jacksonville State at 10 a.m., followed by a match against Alcorn State at 2 p.m.
