BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – The Jacksonville State men's tennis squad fell Sunday to a tough Gardner-Webb group in a tight 3-4 match.
 
The Gamecocks (15-8) fought valiantly against the Bulldogs (18-3) but came up just short of the victory. Jax State started the match off by claiming the doubles point, however, Gardner-Webb would not be denied in singles.
 
The Gamecocks' duo of Marko Milosavljevic and Zach Murphy was defeated 6-4 by the Bulldogs' pairing of Chrisjan Van Wyk and Eduardo Dias in the first doubles match of the day. Lucius Soller and Vanja Dobrnjac evened things with the Bulldogs in a 6-2 doubles win. Liam Day and Logan Haga then claimed a close 7-5 triumph to give Jax State the early lead.
 
Dobrnjac and Soller could not carry the momentum of their doubles win into singles action as Dobrnjac lost 6-0 and 6-2 in the first match before Soller was downed 6-3 in both of his singles sets. Their losses gave Gardner-Webb a slight 2-1 advantage in the match.
 
Matei Palcau earned the Gamecocks first singles point by winning in a straight-set 6-4 and 6-2 over Kim Niethammer. Day followed with a three set victory by scores of 6-2, 5-7, and 6-4 to give Jax State a 3-2 lead. Milosavljevic then lost to Numa Lemieux-Monette in a tight match that was determined with a pair of tiebreakers in sets two and three.
 
Alin Fatu had a close match of his own before losing by scores of 4-6, 6-4, and 5-7 to clinch the match victory for Gardner-Webb.
 
Jacksonville State will now prepare for a road matchup with in-state rival UAB on Friday, April 12 at 2 P.M.
 
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