Box Score Jacksonville, Ala. – The Jacksonville State Gamecocks won five out of six singles matches on Saturday afternoon to defeat the Furman men's tennis team in non-conference action, 5-2, at the Jax State Tennis Courts.

Furman drops to 6-6 on the season while Jacksonville State improves to 6-4 overall.

The Gamecocks opened singles play winning three of the first four matches at No. 2, No. 3, and No. 5 to take a 3-2 lead. Xavier Sarda Marti, playing at No. 3, defeated Thomas Kennedy, 6-4, 6-1, and Vanja Dobrnjac followed in the No. 2 match with a 6-3, 6-4 win versus Leonardo Dal Boni. In the No. 5 matchup, Matei Palcau topped Walker Allen, 6-2, 6-4.

Elijah Poritzky got the Paladins on the board at the No. 1 position when he earned his first victory of the season, winning in straight sets over Alin Fatu, 6-2, 7-5.

Jacksonville State answered with back-to-back wins in the No. 4 and No. 6 matches to secure the 5-2 victory. Liam Day won his No. 6 match versus Connor Laymon in three sets, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, to clinch the match for the Gamecocks. Marko Milosavljevic closed out the contest with a 6-3, 6-7(6), 10-5 win at No. 4 over Emil Westling.

Furman started the match by claiming the doubles point following victories at No. 1 and No. 2. Kennedy and Poritzky won their No. 1 match, the duos sixth of the year, against Ivan Marrero Curbelo and Lucius Soller, 6-2. Jacksonville State would capture a win at No. 3 before Ben Cahill and Westling captured the opening point with a 6-4 victory versus Milosavljvic and Zach Murphy in the No. 2 match for their fourth win of the season.

The Paladins travel to Chapel Hill, N.C. on Monday, February 26 to face the 37^th-ranked Tar Heels at the Chewning Tennis Center. Fans can follow the action on www.furmanpaladins.com via live stats and live streaming. Updates will be posted on the Furman men's tennis Twitter page (@FurmanMTennis).