THIBODAUX – The Nicholls State University men's tennis team suffered its first loss in Southland Conference play, dropping a hard fought 4-3 decision at home against Texas Pan-American on Tuesday evening.

With the loss, Nicholls (5-6) falls to 2-1 in conference, while UTPA (6-5-1) evens its record at 1-1.

Nicholls jumped out to a 1-0 lead, taking the No. 1 and No. 3 matches in doubles to claim the point.  Sidharth Sivakumar/ Palash Tiwari earned a 9-7 win in the No. 1 flight, while Roy Knight/ Damjan Despotovski took the No. 3 match, 8-1.

In singles play, the Colonels were only able to claim two points as the Broncs won four of six matches to secure its first conference victory. Dmitry Kozionov and Roy Knight notched wins in the No. 3 and No. 5 flights, respectively, to remain undefeated in conference.

However, the Broncs mounted a comeback, taking two matches in straight sets to pull within a point at 3-2. The final two matches went into three sets, with UTPA outlasting the Colonels to escape with a victory. After taking the first set 6-1, Shayann Vaezzadeh gave the next two 3-6, 2-6. In the No. 4 match, Tiwari evened up the score with a 6-4 victory in the second set, but lost set three, 6-1.

Nicholls returns to action on Wednesday against Xavier University in New Orleans. First serve is scheduled for 3 p.m.

Texas-Pan American 4, Nicholls 3

Singles
1. Beau Bernstein (UTPA) def. Damjan Despotovski (NICH) 7-5, 6-2
2. Ricardo Hopker (UTPA) def. Shayann Vaezzadeh (NICH) 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
3. Dmitry Kozionov (NICH) def. Chetan Panditi (UTPA) 6-2, 6-3
4. Rolf Niederstrasser (UTPA) def. Palash Tiwari (NICH) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
5. Roy Knight (NICH) def. Sebastien Job (UTPA) 6-1, 6-2
6. Victor Alves (UTPA) def. Sidharth Sivakumar (NICH) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles
1. Sivakumar/ Tiwari (NICH) def. Bernstein/ Panditi (UTPA) 9-7
2. Job/ Hopker (UTPA) def. Vaezzadeh/ Kozionov (NICH) 7-6
3. Knight/ Despotovski (NICH) def. Niederstrasser/ Alves (UTPA) 8-1

###