BEAUMONT, Texas – The Nicholls State University men's tennis team took on four-time defending champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday for a shot at the Southland Conference title and came up empty against the Islanders, falling 7-0 at the Thompson Family Tennis Center.

Nicholls (9-9, 3-2) came into the match with a chance to clinch the SLC regular season title outright, but the Islanders (11-11, 3-1) put together a dominating performance to shutout the Colonels. Nicholls can still get a share of the title if Corpus Christi loses to Lamar in their final conference match, which is scheduled for today (April 19).

Damjan Despotovski was the only Colonel to win a set against the Islanders as he fell in the No. 1 match in extra points to Aurelien Tave 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). Palash Tiwari also took a set into extra points but was defeated in straight sets against Nathan Robinson 7-6 (7-1), 6-2.

Along with being shutout for the second time this season, Nicholls came up empty in doubles play for the fourth time this season. Despotovski and Sidharth Sivakumar had the slimmest margin of defeat, falling 8-6 in the No. 3 match.

The Colonels will compete in the 2012 Southland Conference Tournament, which will be hosted by Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas. The first round of the tournament will be on April 27. The pairings will be announced at the completion of the regular season.

Singles
1. Aurelien Tave (AMCC) def. Damjan Despotovski (NICH) 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
2. Peter Nagy (AMCC) def. Dmitry Kozionov (NICH) 6-1, 6-2
3. Nathan Robinson (AMCC) def. Palash Tiwari (NICH) 7-6 (7-1), 6-2
4. Matt Westmoreland (AMCC) def. Shayann Vaezzadeh (NICH) 6-3, 6-3
5. Fernando Llorens (AMCC) def. Roy Knight (NICH) 6-4, 6-4
6. Pietro Jordao (AMCC) def. Sidharth Sivakumar (NICH) 7-5, 6-3

Doubles
1. Tave/ Nagy (AMCC) def. Tiwari/ Knight (NICH) 8-3
2. Robinson/ Westmoreland (AMCC) def. Kozionov/ Vaezzadeh (NICH) 8-5
3. Andrew Maingot/Alex Pavlov (AMCC) def. Despotovski/ Sivakumar (NICH) 8-6