AUBURN, Ala. – A run to the Final 8 by Ivan Marrero Curbelo served as a highlight at the ITA Fall Regionals for Jacksonville State's men's tennis squad. Along with Marrero Curbelo's strong showings, the Gamecocks tallied 15 wins in Auburn en route to a successful event.
 
"This was a very positive event for us," head coach Trey Morris said. "I think we're showing the direction of this program. Our team is very deep and anybody in this group is capable of coming in and getting a win any day. We're all very happy with the performance."
 
That invite at the Yarbrough Tennis Center started on Thursday, a day in which the Red-and-White scored six victories. Liam Day picked up wins against opponents from Southern Miss and Troy while Logan Haga downed USM's Henry Lamchinniah before falling in the second round of Singles Qualifying. Alin Fatu, Marko Milosavljevic, Matei Palcau, and Xavier Sarda Marti also won their opening matches in qualies, advancing to Friday's action. On Friday, Palcau knocked off Lun Obrul of Alabama State, 6-0, 7-5, then suffered a two-set setback in the Round of 32 in Qualifying. In addition, the doubles tandem of Haga and Palcau knocked off a pair from Alabama A&M, then lost in the second round of the Men's Open Doubles Main Draw the following day.
 
Singles Main Draw play began on Saturday morning and Marrero Curbelo, who received a first-round bye, started on Saturday afternoon. In his first matchup he defeated Auburn's Raul Dobai, 7-5, 7-5, to open his action on the Plains. Along with Marrero Curbelo's massive victory, the Gamecocks picked up Consolation Round wins by Aman Dahiya, Fatu, and Palcau on Saturday afternoon.
 
Sunday saw Jax State tally three more victories. Vanja Dobrnjac and Dahiya won in Consolation Matches while Marrero Curbelo won again. The Saint Leo transfer shocked Nikola Slavic of Ole Miss, the regional's top overall seed, defeating him 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Though his run in the Main Draw came to a close on Monday morning, 5-7, 2-6, against Mississippi State's Petar Jovanovic, Marrero Curbelo still shined at the ITA Fall Regionals.
 
"For him to be able to show his quality on a big stage like this is incredible," Morris said. "He was able to defeat Ole Miss's No. 1 player and a guy who is No. 34 nationally in Slavic, then unfortunately suffered a loss in a hard-fought match versus Jovanovic. Big things are coming for him and he's going to continue pushing forward on his end."
 
Men's tennis concludes their Fall 2023 schedule next weekend with appearances in two separate invites. Jacksonville State will be represented at both the UTC Steve Baras Invite, held Oct. 27-29 in Chattanooga, Tenn., and the Country Club of Birmingham (CCB) Invite from Oct. 28-30.
 
"Our guys are doing the right things and they are working hard," Morris added. "We're getting better and better and just need to clean up some minor details. We need to finish the Fall slate the right way with the remaining events we have on deck and get ready for next January."
 
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