BEAUMONT, Texas - The Nicholls State University men's tennis team began play in its final tournament of the fall on Friday, Oct. 5, and the Colonels put up a great showing as three players - James Russell, Dmitry Kozionov and Nico Mertens - went 2-0 in day one at the Lamar Cardinal Classic.

The Colonels also went 4-0 in doubles play as each team advanced to the semifinals in their respective flight.

In the top flight in singles, Mertens continued his stellar play from last weekend at Southern Miss, winning both of his matches in Pool B in straight sets. The Hilden, Germany native opened up with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Jarred Wynan (ULL) before defeating Jonathan Chang (Rice) 6-4, 6-3. In Pool A, Damian Despotovski split his matches, bouncing back from a loss versus Rob Lee (Lamar) to defeat Yosua Adiyasa (UTPA) 6-0, 6-2.

In the second and third flights, the Colonels had the same results as Kozionov and Russell went undefeated in Pool B, while Jamie Eccleton and Manel Estruega went 1-1 in Pool A. For the second flight, Kozionov outlasted Hunter Goertz (ULL) 7-5, 7-5 before knocking off Chetan Panditi (UTPA) 6-3, 6-2. Eccleton opened with a straight set loss, but came back to win against Juuso Laitinen 6-2, 7-5. In the third flight, Russell dropped Kolby Kilgo (UTSA) 7-6, 6-2 and Victor Alves (UTPA) 6-1, 6-4 and Estruega fell in his first match but rebounded with a hard-fought 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 win over Gustavo Gonzalez (Rice).

For doubles, Eccleton/Russell and Despotovski/Kozionov picked up 8-6 and 8-4 wins in the top flight against Lamar and Rice, respectively, while Estruega/Jeoffery Noblecourt won 8-1 versus UTPA and Mertens/Evan Karatzas defeated former conference-foe UTSA 8-6.

The Colonels will resume play in Lamar Cardinal Classic on Saturday, with the championship rounds slated for Sunday. 

COMPLETE RESULTS