BEAUMONT, Texas – Playing in its second-to-last conference match, the Nicholls State University men's tennis team stayed in contention for the Southland title with a 4-3 win at Lamar on Sunday at the Thompson Family Tennis Center.

The final conference match for the Colonels (8-8, 3-1) will be a makeup contest against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which is scheduled for April 18.

Nicholls went up early in the match on Sunday, winning the No. 2 and 3 doubles bouts. Damjan Despotovski and Sidharth Sivakumar won 8-3 in the No. 3 flight against LU's Mikko Rajamaki/ Bruno Snyderi and Dmitry Kozionov/ Shayann Vaezzadeh came out on top in the No. 2 match, 9-8, versus Denis Ermilov / Carlos Valdenebro.

Needing three more points in singles for the victory, the top of the order for the Colonels put Nicholls in position to win as Deptovski and Kozionov took the No. 1 and 2 matches, respectively, in straight sets. In matches 3-5, Lamar came out with three points in straight sets, despite Vaezzadeh and Knight taking their second sets to extra points.

In the No. 6 match, Sivakumar came away with a 7-5, 6-3 victory against Rajamaki as Nicholls took the contest 4-3.

Nicholls will return to action on April 10 when they head to Alcorn State.

Nicholls 4, Lamar 3
Singles
1. Damjan Despotovski (NICH) def. Lee, Rob (LU) 6-4, 6-2
2. Dmitry Kozionov (NICH) def. Ermilov, Denis (LU) 6-1, 6-3
3. Horvath, Marton (LU) def. Palash Tiwari (NICH) 6-2, 6-4
4. Valdenebro, Carlos (LU) def. Shayann Vaezzadeh (NICH) 6-3, 7-5
5. Snyder, Bruno (LU) def. Roy Knight (NICH) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
6. Sidharth Sivakumar (NICH) def. Rajamaki, Mikko (LU) 7-5, 6-3

Doubles
1. Horvath, Marton/Lee, Rob (LU) def. Roy Knight/Palash Tiwari (NICH) 8-3
2. Dmitry Kozionov/Shayann Vaezzadeh (NICH) def. Ermilov, Denis/Valdenebro, Carlos (LU) 9-8 (7-3)
3. Damjan Despotovski/Sidharth Sivakumar (NICH) def. Rajamaki, Mikko/Snyder, Bruno (LU) 8-3

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