THIBODAUX  – The Nicholls State University men's tennis team opened up its 2012 Southland Conference slate with a hard fought 4-3 victory against UTSA on Sunday morning at the Colonel Tennis Complex.

With the win, Nicholls improves to 4-3 on the year and 1-0 in conference. USTA falls to 2-5 and 0-1.

UTSA came out and dominated the doubles matches, sweeping all three to take a 1-0 lead. Shayann Vaezzadeh and Dmitry Kozionov fell 8-5 in the No. 1 match, Guillermo Collado/ Sidharth Sivakumar dropped the No. 2 match, 8-6, and Damjan Despotovski / Roy Knight lost the No. 3 match, 8-4.

In singles, the Colonels claimed the top three flights, led by Despotovski's straight-set victory in the No. 1 match against Yannick Junger, 6-3, 6-1. After dropping the first set, Kozionov battled back for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win at the No. 2 slot, while Vazzadeh picked up a 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 victory at No. 3

In the No. 4 and No. 6 flights, Palash Tiwari and Collado, respectively, were defeated in straight sets, but Roy Knight's 6-1, 6-3 victory in the No. 5 position gave Nicholls a 4-3 triumph in its SLC opener.

Nicholls will have the week off before returning to action on Feb. 28 at UT-Arlington.

Complete results:

Nicholls 4, UTSA 3

Singles
1. Damjan Despotovski (NICH) def. Yannick Junger (UTSA) 6-3, 6-1
2. Dmitry Kozionov (NICH) def. Tyler Brown (UTSA) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
3. Shayann Vaezzadeh (NICH) def. Martin Ayala (UTSA) 6-4, 6-7 (5-10), 6-3
4. Joel Rubio (UTSA) def. Palash Tiwari (NICH) 6-1, 6-0
5. Roy Knight (NICH) def. Daniel Moser (UTSA) 6-1, 6-2
6. David Kelleher (UTSA) def. Guillermo Collado (NICH) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles
1. Junger/Pedro Zanotelli (UTSA) def. Vaezzadeh/ Kozionov (NICH) 8-5
2. Ayala/ Brown (UTSA) def. Collado/Sidharth Sivakumar (NICH) 8-6
3. Rubio/Kolby Kilgo (UTSA) def. Despotovski/ Knight (NICH) 8-4