THIBODAUX  – The Nicholls State University men's tennis team hosted Florida A&M on Saturday at the Colonel Tennis Complex and came up short, falling 4-3, to the Rattlers.

With the loss, Nicholls drops to 1-2 while Florida A&M improves to 4-4.

The duos of Dmitry Kozionov/Shayann Vaezzadeh and Damjan Despotovski/Roy Knight picked up wins for the Colonels in doubles action, giving Nicholls a 1-0 lead. Kozionov/Vaezzadeh earned an 8-3 win at the No. 2 slot against Fabrice Myrtil/Temuera Asafu-Adjaye, while Despotovski/Knight clinched the point with an 8-6 victory at No. 3 versus Levan Clark/Takura Happy. At the No. 1 position, Sidharth Sivakumar/Palash Tiwari fell 8-3 to Salif Kante/Chidi Gabriel, preventing the sweep for the Colonels.

In singles action, Despotovski (No. 2) and Sivakumar (No. 5) were victorious in straight-sets, winning 6-4, 6-1 and 6-3, 6-4, respectively; however, FAMU went on to claim the remaining four points to take the match.

The Colonels took the courts on Sunday at Jackson State, with the results still pending. Nicholls returns to action as the men and women's teams host William Carey on Tuesday (Feb. 14). First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.

The complete results are listed below.

Florida A&M 4, Nicholls 3
Singles
1. Salif Kante (FAMU) def. Dmitry Kozionov (NICH) 6-4, 6-1
2. Damjan Despotovski (NICH) def. Levan Clark (FAMU) 6-4, 6-0
3. Takura Happy (FAMU) def. Shayann Vaezzadeh (NICH) 6-4, 7-5
4. Chidi Gabriel (FAMU) def. Roy Knight (NICH) 6-4, 7-5
5. Sidharth Sivakumar (NICH) def. Fabrice Myrtil (FAMU) 6-3, 6-4
6. Temuera Asafu-Adjaye (FAMU) def. Palash Tiwari (NICH) 6-1, 6-2

Doubles
1. Kante/ Gabriel (FAMU) def. Sivakumar/ Tiwari (NICH) 8-3
2. Kozionov/ Vaezzadeh (NICH) def. Myrtil/ Asafu-Adjaye (FAMU) 8-3
3. Despotovski/ Knight (NICH) def. Clark/ Happy (FAMU) 8-6