LIVINGSTON, Ala. – The University of West Alabama men's and women's tennis split on the squads' opening day as the gentlemen recorded a 5-2 victory over Jackson State while the ladies lost by a 4-3 score to JSU.

The match was delayed by an hour in an effort to have it played under the warmest temperatures possible, but conditions were still quite chilly for the competitors.

The men's team earned the doubles point as Lucas Cruz and Juan Felipe Tellez teamed up to dispatch their JSU opposition with a 9-7 victory. Santiago Lopez and Kike Ruiz fell 8-3 in their doubles match, but a forfeit victory allowed UWA to capture the point.

Both Lopez and Ruiz bounced back, however, as they won their singles match from the first and fourth positions, respectively. Lopez won 6-3, 6-4 while Ruiz won 7-6, 6-7, 10-7 (super tiebreaker). Cruz also won his singles match 6-0, 6-4 as he competed in the five spot.

The win moves Cruz to within 17 of becoming the first player in UWA history to record 100 victories.

On the women's side, JSU took two of the three doubles matches to earn the point, and the two teams went into singles play deadlocked at one with UWA owning a point from a forfeit in singles action.

Angy Cuellar won her singles match from the top position, using scores of 6-4 and 7-5 to earn the triumph. Dasha Popova secured the other singles win for the Tigers, easily knocking off her opponent by scores of 6-1 and 6-0.

The teams are slated to return to action Monday afternoon at Xavier in New Orleans at 1 p.m.