NEW ORLEANS – Despite battling hard up and down the lineup, Appalachian State University men's tennis was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament by nationally-ranked South Alabama, 4-1, on Friday at the UNO Tennis Center.

The Mountaineers (10-12), who entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed, dropped several close contests as the Jaguars (15-8) advanced to Saturday's semifinal, where they will face No. 2 seeded UT Arlington.

South Alabama, which earned the No. 3 seed at the tournament and entered the match ranked No. 69 nationally, grabbed the first two points of the match and rode the momentum to a victory.

Tuki Jacobs grabbed a win over Appalachian's Zach Bost (6-0, 6-1) at the No. 4 spot for the first point before Juan Troglia snagged a victory against Jack Maddocks (6-2, 7-5) at No. 3 to give the Jags a 2-0 advantage.

The Mountaineers would pick up their lone point of the day when Scott Webster earned a 6-0, 7-5 win against Tim Srkala at No. 2 singles. Webster, who was named as the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year less than 24 hours before, improved to 18-4 on the season with the win.

With a 2-1 lead, South Alabama was able to close things with two more wins as Olivier Gingras took down Jan-Willem Kleynhans (6-4, 7-5) at the No. 5 spot.

Daniel Leitner, the Sun Belt Player of the Year, finished off the contest by picking up a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win over Oliver Casey at the No. 1 spot. Leitner entered the contest ranked No. 89 in the latest ITA Singles Rankings.

Trey Morris led USA's Manuel Belda 1-0 in the third set at No.6, but the match went unfinished after South Alabama clinched the winning point. The doubles portion of the match was not played as the teams played under the ITA Shortened Format.

Appalachian State returns all but one player for next year, including all four of its all-Sun Belt selections in Casey, Maddocks, Morris and Webster.

#69 South Alabama 4, Appalachian State 1
Apr 17, 2015 at New Orleans, La. (UNO Tennis Center)