Men's Tennis Falls In 1st Round of NCAAs

Saturday, May 10

Scott Speicher Tennis Center - Tallahassee, Fla.

12:00 p.m

Alabama

South Alabama

Men's Tennis Falls In 1st Round of NCAAs

5/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

May 10, 2008

Final Stats

Tallahassee, Fla. - The University of Alabama men's tennis team suffered a 4-3 defeat to South Alabama Saturday afternoon at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center on the Florida State University campus, ending Alabama's 2008 season.

"Without question, it's a miserable end to a pretty good season," said Alabama head coach Billy Pate. "We're extremely dissapointed because we had high hopes of going much further and certainly had the ability to do so. The difference today was the doubles point. We've been good in doubles all year and unfortunately we really shot ourselves in the foot there and spotted them a point.

"South Alabama is very strong in the top 4 singles positions so by giving them the lead and the confidence it certainly made for an uphill battle. However, we fought back and had plenty of chances."

USA took the early lead by taking the doubles point, winning matches at No. 1 and No. 2. USA's Jack Baker and R.J. Nagel knocked off Alabama's Mathieu Thibaudeau and Daniel Buikema, 8-5. The Jaguars clinched the doubles point for a 1-0 match lead on the basis of a win at No. 2 with USA's Robert Hodel/Marek Sramek defeating Alabama's Saketh Myneni/Andrew Felsenthal, 9-7. Alabama's lone doubles win came at No. 3 where the Tide's Sammy Struyf and Javier Best defeated USA's tandem of Aaron Krisan/Michael O'Brien, 8-3.

Alabama fought back in singles. At No. 6, Michael Jung downed USA's Michael O'Brien in straight sets with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 victory. USA's #34-ranked Jack Backer knocked off Alabama's #68 Saketh Myneni at No. 1 to put the Jaguars up, 2-1, with a 6-4, 6-3 decision. Alabama found itself down in the match, 3-1, when USA's R.J. Nagel defeated UA's Daniel Buikeman by a count of 6-4, 6-3. The Tide rebounded with singles wins at No. 5 and No. 2 to tie it at 3-3 with only the No. 3 match remaining.

At No. 5, Javier Bes defeated USA's Aaron Krisan in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, before Alabama's Mathieu Thibaudeau knocked off USA's Robert Hodel, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, to even it up at 3-3.

The match was decided at No. 3 in a tight three-set battle between UA's Sammy Struyf and USA's Marek Sramek. Struyf took the first set, 6-1, before Sramek battled back to take the second set by a 7-6 margin. Sramek took control in the third set to take the 6-2 win to seal the verdict.

"Thibaudeau really rallied after re-injuring his sprained ankle in the doubles and he gave us a shot after he tied it at 3-3," Pate said. "Sammy fought hard and had a chance over a very tough player but I think he just ran out of gas in the end."

Pate remains optimistic about the future on the heels of another strong season for his team.

"We're going to rethink how we prepare next year with the exam schedule the week of the NCAAs," Pate said. "But this team accomplished a lot this spring, especially with the loss of one of our top players (Billy Mertz) to a season-ending injury. The future is bright and I'm very confident we're going to make another jump next year with the peronnel we have coming in and the experience we'll have returning. We're moving in the right direction with this program and I don't want this loss to diminish that."


NCAA First RoundSouth Alabama 4, Alabama 3Scott Speicher Tennis Center - Florida State UniversityTallahassee, Fla.
Singles1. Jack Baker (USA) d. Saketh Myneni (UA), 6-4, 6-32. Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA) d. Robert Hodel (USA)  3-6, 6-4,6-33. Marek Sramek (USA) d. Sammy Struyf (UA), 4-6, 7-6, 6-24. R.J. Nagel (USA) d. Daniel Buikeman (UA), 6-4, 6-35. Javier Bes (UA)  d. Aaron Krisan (USA), 6-3, 6-26. Michael Jung (UA) d, Michael O'Brien (USA), 6-0, 6-0
Doubles1. Jack Baker/R.J. Nagel (USA)  d. #19 Mathieu Thibaudeau/Daniel Buikema (UA), 8-52. Robert Hodel/Marek Sramek (USA) d. Saketh Myneni/Andrew Felsenthal (UA), 9-73.  Sammy Struyf/Javier Bes (UA) d. Aaron Krisan/Michael O'Brien (USA), 8-3
Singles Order of Finish - 6,1,4,5,2,3*Doubles Order of Finish - 3,1,2*