CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Looking to avoid the same result of last season's tournament matchup against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Nicholls State University men's tennis team came up short again versus the host Islanders as the Colonels fell 4-1 on Thursday night in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament.
After Nicholls started off the 2022 Tournament with a win over NJIT, the Islanders put an end to the Colonels season with a 4-1 victory. AMCC (18-7) matched the result but this time, the Colonels (10-11) came away with a singles victory.
Omar Morsy secured the point for the Red and Gray, taking the top court in straight sets against Avery Zavala. He took both sets 6-2 to improve to 11-5 on the season.
The Colonels found themselves down 1-0 after doubles play. Nicholls won the doubles point in the earlier matchup against the Islanders, but the home squad fought off the Colonels to take two of the three matches. The all-league duo of
Lukas Morand/
Antonio Sasso gave Nicholls a 6-3 victory at No. 3, however, the Islanders won 6-2 and 6-4 on courts 1 and 2.
Morsy and Sasso won their first sets in singles play before Morsy claimed the lone point for the Colonels, but it would be the only victories for the rest of the match. Matthieu Peres defeated
Harry Collins at No. 3, 6-1 and 6-2, while Lucas Schurdevin took down
Prasanna Pravin Bagade at No. 6, 6-0 and 6-4. The clinching point was at No. 2 where Pascal Lorieul defeated
Ilian Borlee, 7-5 and 6-4.
Quentin Lamothe's match at No. 4 went unfinished at 2-6 and 6-6 while Sasso's No. 5 match was stopped at 7-6, 1-0.
The top five leaders in singles victories are set to return next season with two being freshmen this year.
