HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Nicholls State University men's and women's tennis teams took on Jacksonville State at Southern Miss on Saturday and both squads picked up victories with the men winning 6-1 while the women won 5-2.

The men improve to 3-1 on the season, losing only to nationally-ranked Texas A&M. The victory for the women was their first of the season (1-2). Both teams are back in action on Sunday against Southern Miss.

For the men, following a dominating performance with 8-1 wins in doubles by the duos of James Russell/ Roy Knight (No. 1) and Damian Despotovski/Evan Karatzas (No. 3), the Colonels were just as impressive in singles play, taking four of their five victories in straight sets. Nico Mertens took the No. 3 match 6-4, 6-4, while Knight blanked his opponent in the first set at No. 4 before taking the point with a 7-5 win. In No. 5 and No. 6 matches, Manel Estruega won 7-5, 6-4 and Russell took his match with a 6-3, 6-2 win, respectively.

In the top flight, Dmitry Kozionov, the reigning Southland Conference Player of the Week,  rebounded from an early setback to win his match 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

The women started out with a 1-0 lead after winning the first two doubles matches. Despite coming into the match winless as a team, the duo of Natalia Cardiff/Parija Maloo kept its undefeated season at No.1 in tact with an 8-3 win. Emma Pitre/Eva Castiglioni followed up in the No. 3 match with an 8-4 triumph.

In singles action, the Colonels' top three players had great outings, led by Maloo at No. 1 who did not surrender a point, winning 6-0, 6-0. Cardiff took the No. 2 flight 6-3, 6-2 and Marie Aubert won her match 6-0, 6-3. Elsa Brock rounded out the winners for Nicholls with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 4.