Cajuns Fight Past Southern Miss For A Solid Road Win

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Powered by three straight set wins in top four singles, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's tennis team took their match at Southern Miss, 4-1, to improve to 12-8 on the season at the Southern Miss Tennis Facility.

The win gives the Cajuns their seventh win in eight seasons over the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, and it snapped a three-match winning streak that Southern Miss brought into the match.

Louisiana got wins from freshman Nico Sojka, at No. 1, senior Vlad Kramarov, at No. 3 and junior Arthur Libaud, at No. 4. For Sojka it was the second straight match playing at No. 1 and the win was his first at the top of the lineup. Kramarov's win snapped a two-match losing streak and Libaud got his second straight win.

HOW IT HAPPENED (Doubles): Louisiana came out and took the doubles point with wins from the pairing of Karmarov and sophomore Elio Lago, at No. 1, over USM's Merker/Reyes, 6-2. And another win at No. 2, from sophomore Pearse Dolan and freshman Pierce Gilheany, 7-6, over the Golden Eagle pairing of Tseng/Tsai, wrapped up the doubles point giving the Cajuns a 1-0 lead heading into single.

HOW IT HAPPENED (Singles): Sojka's win at No. 1 was impressive, as he took down USM's Tom Cecchetto in straight sets, 7-6, 6-4. After fighting through a tiebreaking win in the first set he controlled the second half of the second set to win his first career match at No. 1.

Kramarov handled his business at No. 3 beating the Golden Eagle's Ronit Bisht in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5. Kramarov had to fight off tiebreakers in each set, but he did so finishing off each set before the tiebreaker could become a factor.

At No. 4 Libaud won his second straight match, over USM's Teeradon Tortrakul, in straight sets 6-4, 7-6. Libaud had to close things out in a tiebreaker, but he made sure that his hard work in the first set wasn't wasted and he closed out his match, without having to play a deciding third set.

At No. 6 the Golden Eagles got their lone win when Jorman Reyes beat the Cajuns' Jamie Fraser, 6-4, 7-6. But the Cajuns came away with the 4-1 win to get their weekend away from Cajun Courts off to a great start.

NOTEWORTHY: Sojka's win improves his singles record to 8-2; Libaud now sits at 7-9 in singles; Kramarov's singles record improves to a team best 12-6; Dolan and Gilheany improve to 8-1 together in doubles; Dolan's doubles record now sits at 11-1 and his combined record is a team best 21-4.

UP NEXT FOR THE CAJUNS: Louisiana now heads to New Orleans, La., to face the University of New Orleans on Sunday, Mar. 11 with that match scheduled to start at 2 p.m.

FOLLOWING THE RAGIN' CAJUNS: Follow the Cajuns on twitter (@RaginCajunsMT), Instagram (ragincajunsMT) and snapchat (ragincajunsmt) for content on the Cajuns as the wrap up the weekend.

Louisiana 4, Southern Miss 1
March 10, 2018 at Hattiesburg, Miss.
(Southern Miss Tennis Facility)
Doubles:
1.) Kramarov/Lago (LA) def. Merker/Reyes (USM) 6-2
2.) Dolan/Gilheany (LA) def. Tseng/Tsai (USM) 7-6
3.) Libaud/Fraser (LA) vs. Cecchetto/Kwasniewski (USM) DNF

Singles:
1.) Nico Sojka (LA) def. Tom Cecchetto (USM) 7-6, 6-4
2.) Elio Lago (LA) vs. Chung Han Tsai (USM) DNF
3.) Vlad Kramarov (LA) def. Ronit Bisht (USM) 7-5, 7-5
4.) Arthur Libaud (LA) def. Teeradon Tortrakul (USM) 6-4, 7-6
5.) Pearse Dolan (LA) vs. Wen-Po Tseng (USM) DNF
6.) Jorman Reyes (USM) def. Jamie Fraser (LA) 6-4, 7-6

Team Records:
Louisiana: 12-8
Southern Miss: 9-3

#GEAUXCAJUNS

Cajuns Fight Past Southern Miss For A Solid Road Win

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Players Mentioned

Pearse Dolan

Jamie Fraser

Pierce Gilheany

Vlad Kramarov

Elio Lago

Arthur Libaud

Nico Sojka