THIBODAUX, La. - Winners of six consecutive matches, the Nicholls State University men's tennis team will take on No. 2 NJIT Thursday, April 18 in the opening round of the Southland Conference Tournament, hosted by UIW at the McFarlin Tennis Center. The match is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
Nicholls (12-6, 1-3 SLC) started its winning streak with its lone win in conference, taking down Lamar 6-1 in Beaumont. The Colonels started the day by winning the doubles point before taking five of the six singles matches.
Quentin Lamothe and
Antonio Sasso put Nicholls to within a point of clinching after their straight-set victories, but Brandon Do prevented the shutout with a win at No. 4 for Lamar. The final three matches went to three sets with
Omar Morsy,
Harry Collins and
Kotaro Matsumura all coming out on top for the Red and Gray.
Sasso and Matsumura led Nicholls with 13-3 records in singles and both posted 3-1 marks in conference. Collins was also 3-1 in league play finished 11-2 overall, playing the majority of his matches at No. 2.
NJIT (16-5) is an affiliate member of the Southland so its No. 2 seed was based on ITA Rankings. The Highlanders did play one SLC member, league champion UIW, and was defeated 5-2.
Nicholls and NJIT have squared off the last two seasons with the Colonels winning both matches. Nicholls picked up a 4-1 victory in the Southland Conference Tournament in 2022 before hosting NJIT last season and securing a 4-3 win.
The winner of the single elimination tournament will claim the Southland's automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Tennis Championship.
Live scoring will be available for each match, with the championship match on Sunday broadcast on ESPN+.
