JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State men's tennis team downed West Alabama 5-2 in its season opener Saturday at the JSU Tennis Courts.
 
After dropping the doubles point, the Gamecocks (1-0) rallied back to win all five singles matches over the Lions (0-1).
 
Guillermo Agost and Jordi Blancher won 6-1 at No. 2 doubles, but UWA took the decisions at No. 1 and No. 3 to go up 1-0.
 
In his start at No. 1, Agost took a three-set win over Ilari Vesanen to even the score 1-1. The senior fell 6-4 in the first set but won 6-2 and 6-1 in the bookends to take the contest.
 
Thomas Norwood won in two sets (6-3, 6-4) at No. 3 and Dmitrii Vasilev swept at No. 4 (6-3, 7-5) in their JSU debuts.
 
Junior Aljaz Kaplja won 6-4, 6-2 at No. 5 over Anton Lof, and Jordi Blanchar wrapped up the meet with back-to-back 6-2 set wins at No. 6 over Nuutti Jokinen.
 
Jax State returns to the court Wednesday, Jan. 29 in Jackson, Miss., to begin a seven-match road trip. JSU meets Mississippi Valley State at 3 p.m. for the neutral-site contest. The Gamecocks return home Thursday, Feb. 27 to host Alabama State at 1:30 p.m.
 
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