BATON ROUGE, La. – Alabama A&M (0-2, 0-1 SWAC) fell in their conference opening match 4-2 to rival Alabama State (3-3, 1-0 SWAC) in an NCAA Division I men's tennis match on Friday, February 26.
 
The Hornets picked up the first doubles win of the day as senior Fermin Ruiz (Mollina, Spain) and sophomore Natiphat Mulada (Korat, Thailand) fell to Assil Boussayri and Ruan Du Preez by a score of 6-2 at No. 3.
 
The Bulldogs recovered with strong play in the remaining two sets, as junior Cheng Chang Yang (Koahsiung, Taiwan) and senior Gjorgji Popovski (Skopje, Macedonia) defeated Chris Andre and Juan Rodriguez 6-2 at No. 2, followed by a 6-4 win from juniors Rodrigo Arana Rios (Playa Del Carmen, Mexico) and Panji Setiawan (South Jakarta, Indonesia) over Alejo Calvis and Luka Markovic at No. 1.
 
In singles action, Setiawan picked up the first win with consecutive 6-1 sets over ASU's Markovic at No. 5, however the Hornets swept the remainder of the sets as Popovski fell in consecutive 6-4 sets to Du Preez, Ruiz fell 4-6 and 5-7 to Boussayri and Mulada fell 6-3 and 6-0 to close out the match.
 
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday, February 27 as they continue play in Baton Rouge and take on Mississippi Valley State to continue SWAC Pod play. First serve is set for 1 p.m. at the Southern University Tennis Courts.