Men's Tennis Battled Top Teams at ITA Southern Regional Over Weekend

Thursday, October 14

Auburn, Ala.

All Day

Southern Miss

ITA Regionals

Men's Tennis Battled Top Teams at ITA Southern Regional Over Weekend

10/18/2021 1:20:00 PM | Men's Tennis

AUBURN, Ala. -- When all was said and done at the ITA Southern Regional, the Southern Miss men's tennis team qualified two members into the main singles draw and four teams in the main doubles draw. Dhruv Sunish and Olimjon Nabiev each appeared in the singles main draw over the weekend, but each bowed out in the first round. The Golden Eagles were joined by some of the top teams in the south this weekend in Auburn, Ala.

"I am very happy with how we played this weekend," said head coach Zubin Engineer. "It was great to see Olimjon [Nabiev] join Dhruv [Sunish] in the main draw for singles. I was also very impressed with our doubles play and it turned out that two teams lost to are playing in the championship. Overall, we hung in there with the top teams in our region."

Nabiev qualified for the main draw by defeating Alabama State's Chris Andre via a 6-3, 6-2 score and then beat Chris Tasker of Troy, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0. The comeback win advanced Nabiev to the final round before qualifying for the main draw. He would go on to defeat No. 4 Luc Hoeijmans of Tulane by a convincing 6-3, 6-4 score where he joined Dhruv Sunish in the main draw. Sunish automatically qualified for the main draw based on his current rating. Sunish would fall in the first round to LSU's Vlad Lobak by a 7-6, 7-8(8) score and Nabiev would fall to German Samofalov of Alabama by a 6-3, 7-6(5) score.

Prior to the main draw, Christopher Cahour and Pawin Jirapoomdaje each won their first match before falling in the second and third round, respectively. Alexander Gima, Antoine Audrain and Alan Sanson lost their opening matches in the qualifying draw.

In doubles play, the Golden Eagles qualified four teams into the main draw. Three of the four teams won their first match before bowing out in the second round. Audrain/Gima and Sunish/Sanson's second-round opponents are scheduled to play in the main draw championship today.

Qualifying Draw
Cahour (Southern Miss) def. Gray (Samford) , 7-6, 4-6, 6-3
Cahour (Southern Miss) lost to Kajin (Louisiana), 6-3, 6-3
Gima (Southern Miss) lost to Delcour (USA), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
Nabiev (Southern Miss) def. Andre (Alabama State), 6-3, 6-2
Nabiev (Southern Miss) def. Chris Tasker (Troy) 5-7, 6-2, 6-0
Nabiev (Southern Miss) def. Hoeijmans (Tulane), 6-3, 6-4
Reansuwong (Southern Miss) lost to Postea (Lousiana), 6-3, 6-4
Audrain (Southern Miss) lost to Koch (LSU), 7-6(6), 6-4
Jirapoomdaje (Southern Miss) def. Bernar (Troy) , 6-3, 2-6, 6-1
Jirapoomdaje (Southern Miss) lost to Friere (LSU), 6-1, 6-2
Sanson (Southern Miss) lost to Du Preeze, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5

Main Draw
Sunish (Southern Miss) lost to Lobak (LSU), 7-6, 7-6 (8)
Nabiev (Southern Miss) lost to Samofalov (Alabama) 6-3, 7-6 (5)

Doubles
Audrain/Gima (Southern Miss) def. Rodriguez/Andre (Alabama State), 8-6
Audrain/Gima (Southern Miss) lost to Murgett/Dobai (Auburn), 8-7 (2)
Sunish/Sanson (Southern Miss) def. Bellallouna/Pickard (Samford), 8-7 (8)
Sunish/Sanson (Southern Miss) lost to Lobak/Friere (LSU), 8-4
Jirapoomdaje/Reasunwong (Southern Miss) def. Williams/Gooch (Samford), Inj.
Jirapoomdaje/Reansuwong (Southern Miss) lost to Hernandez/Colas (Miss. State), 8-3
Cahour/Nabiev (Southern Miss) lost to Postolka/Puric (UAB), Inj.