JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State men's tennis team swept its weekend Ohio Valley Conference series against Austin Peay and Belmont at the JSU Tennis Courts Friday and Saturday to remain undefeated in league play.
 
The Gamecocks (10-4, 3-0 OVC) topped the Governors 4-3 Friday afternoon and repeated the performance Saturday with a 4-3 win over Belmont.
 
Jacksonville State fell behind 1-0 Friday with Austin Peay taking the doubles point, but the home team rallied back to take the first four singles matches in a row to do away with the Govs quickly. All four singles wins were taken in two sets, while Jordi Blanchar used a 7-4 tiebreaker in his first set at No. 6 to claim his win. Blanchar finished off APSU's Hunter Sanders 6-3 to take the match-deciding point for JSU.
 
The doubles point would not be lost for a second match in a row as the Gamecocks jumped on the Bruins 1-0 Saturday. Blanchar Guillermo Agost won 6-2 at No. 2, while Joaquin Vallejo and Alexander Vishnevskiy claimed a narrow 7-5 win at No. 3 to take the point for JSU.
 
The two teams went on to split the next four points in singles action, and Belmont's Marko Ilic used a three-set win over Vallejo at No. 2 to tie the match 3-3.
 
It all came down to the No. 4 match between JSU's Vishnevskiy and BU's Zak Khan for match point. Khan took the first set 6-4, but a 6-4 win in the second and 7-5 win in the third for the Gamecock sophomore propelled Jacksonville State to its third OVC win in a row.
 
The Gamecocks step out of conference play April 2 to host Troy at 2 p.m. JSU then welcomes Florida A&M to the JSU Tennis Courts April 9.
 
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