Sept. 20, 2008

LAFAYETTE, La. -- The Southern Miss men's tennis team had a strong performance on the second day of the 2008 Ragin' Cajuns Men's Tennis Invitational, posting several upset wins.

Freshman Patricio Alvarado defeated Calvin Kemp of UNO 6-2, 6-4 one day after upsetting the No. 2 seed Neal Skupski of LSU 6-2, 6-2. He advanced to the semi-final of the A-Flight with a 6-3, 6-0, win over Stepan Siska of Southeastern Louisiana.

Senior Domagoj Anic knocked off Juan Nunez 6-2, 6-4 of UALR and upset Mark Bowtell of LSU 4-6, 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (12-10) after saving eight match points. He eventually lost to No. 1 seed Piotr Banas (No. 61) in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-4.

In the B Flight Singles, Andrew Poole advanced to the semi-finals after upsetting No.1 seed Cody Loup of LSU 6-7, 6-1, 6:3 and Sebastian Rubiano of Southern Illinois, 6-4, 6-3. Oscar Machuca advanced to the quarter-finals with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Luke Hawk. His quarter-final match was suspended due to rain and will be played Sunday. Diego Machuca, Markus Wessinghage and Filipe Silva all advanced to the quarter-finals of their respective draws and will continue their play as well Sunday.

"We are very pleased with the performance and effort of our guys," Head Coach Teddy Viator said. "Domagoj, Oscar and Andrew all came back to win their matches after loosing the first set."