Blue Raiders fall to South Alabama

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Blue Raiders battled against South Alabama at the HEB Invitational but were unable to pull out the win falling 4-2.

Play opened with singles as junior John Peers, ranked 39th in the ITA Poll, defeated Romain Bocaert 6-0, 7-6 (5).

"Today was disappointing but unfortunately expected. We had a tough day yesterday and to the guys credit they had a battle last night and won after another opportunity missed against BYU," head coach David McNamara said. "They rebounded well and played hard and won. But they should be disappointed with what happen today. Today was going to be a mental battle, a battle that we lost. We should be disappointed because we are better than what we showed today."

Senior Victor Melo fell to Lucas Viel 0-6, 7-5, 7-5 as South Alabama took control from there.

Freshman Shaun Waters lost his match 6-1, 6-4 to Alexandre Bernard and sophomore Matthew Langley fell 6-4, 6-2 to Dauw Kruger.

Senior Alex McCann battled in his match after winning the first set 7-5 but could not pull out the win losing the next two sets 6-4, 6-2.

Sophomore Richard Cowden rounded out play as he faced Christian Kuehne. Cowden won the first set 6-4 but lost the second 7-5. In the third set, Kuehne was leading 1-0 when he retired the match.

"It is the half way point of the season and there are lessons to be learned. This team can go either of two ways. We can learn from the past and make a commitment to get better or we can keep doing what we are doing and disappointments will turn to frustrations and decisions will have to be made at the end of this season," McNamara said. "The best athletes learn from there mistakes and get better. They realize what does not work and they change. We need to get better!"

The Blue Raiders will be back in action Thursday, March 18 when they travel to Montgomery, Ala., to compete in the Blue Gray Classic.

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