TUSCALOOSA, ALA. – Jacksonville State's doubles tandem of junior Vanja Dobrnjac and redshirt freshman Lucius Soller produced a strong outing at the ITA Southern Regionals over the weekend. Their run to the Round of 16 highlighted a successful weekend in that event, which was hosted by the University of Alabama.
 
Dobrnjac and Soller downed a doubles team from LSU in the Round of 64, 8-5, and held off a feisty duo from Tulane, 9-8 (2), before falling in the Round of 16. Their defeat came at the hands of Auburn's Finn Murgett and Tyler Stice, the no. 5 seed, who won that match 8-4 to advance to the Quarterfinals.
 
Freshmen Agustin Cuellar and Alejandro Beneyto Sanchez won their first match in the doubles main draw, 8-2, against Alabama A&M, but would come up short in the Round of 32 against a team from Alabama. Sophomore Vicente Arbelaez and freshman Alin Fatu were also in the main draw, but lost 9-8 to South Alabama in the Round of 64.
 
Fatu and Cuellar had Jacksonville State's most notable outings on the singles side. Fatu qualified for the main draw with three big wins on Friday. The Romanian defeated UAB's Parker Bradbary and Troy's Vito Llinares in three sets to move to the final round of qualifying. There, he upset LSU senior George Stoupe to advance to the main draw.
 
Cuellar was the only Gamecock to tally a victory in the singles main draw. The first-year contributor from Bolivia survived a three-set thriller against South Alabama's Jack Clements, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, to move to the Round of 32, where he fell to LSU junior Welsh Hotard.
 
Although he did not reach the main draw, fellow freshman Xavier Sarda Marti showed great promise in Tuscaloosa. He won the first two rounds of qualifying, but lost in a third-set tiebreaker in the final round.
 
"Overall, this was a very positive weekend for both programs," Jacksonville State head coach Mike Mucci said after the event. "We had some pretty good performances on the men's side from Xavi, Alin, and Agustin, along with Vanja and Lucius in doubles. Now I think we know the level we need to get to in order to push for the ASUN title."
 
Doubles Results:
Main Draw-
Round of 64-
Dobrnjac/Soller def. Cubitt/Ambrosio (LSU) 8-5
Cuellar/Beneyto Sanchez def. Ramis/Crespo (Alabama A&M) 8-2
Fatu/Arbelaez lost to South Alabama 9-8
Round of 32-
Dobrnjac/Soller def. (16) Kuenkler/Bancila (Tulane) 9-8 (2)
(8) Ponce de Leon/Aguiard (Alabama) def. Beneyto Sanchez/Cuellar 8-6
Round of 16-
(5) Stice/Murgett (Auburn) def. Dobrnjac/Soller 8-4
 
Singles Results:
Qualifying Round-
Fatu def. Bradbary (LSU) 6-3, 3-6, 10-8
Fatu def. Llinares (Troy) 7-5, 4-6, 10-8
Fatu def. Stoupe (LSU) 7-5, 6-4
Sarda Marti won two rounds of qualifying before losing in a third-set tiebreaker in the final round
Dobrnjac won one round of qualifying before falling in round two
Main Draw-
Round of 64-
Cuellar def. Clements (South Alabama) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Dong (LSU) def. Fatu 6-1. 7-5
Round of 32-
Hotard (LSU) def. Cuellar 6-3, 6-1