BALTIMORE The ninth-ranked mens doubles team of senior Tom Hand and sophomore Dan Kiernan were ousted in the quarterfinal round of the T. Rowe Price National Clay Court Championships by eventual champions Steve Huss and Tiago Ruffoni of Auburn, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, at the Suburban Club of Baltimore County Friday afternoon.
Hand and Kiernan advanced to the second round by defeating No. 5-8 seeded Daniel Andersson, the mens singles champion, and Frank Moser of VCU in a walkover in the first round Thursday. Earlier on Friday, the tandem defeated qualifiers Gustavo Gomez and Roberto Fernandez of East Tennessee State, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals.
In singles play at the Clay Court Championships, 21st-ranked Hand was the lone Tiger to play in the main draw. He fell in the first round to Baylors Johann Jooste, 6-4, 6-2, and again in the consolation first round to Jason Marshall of Purdue, 6-1, 6-4.
In the qualifying round of the championship, Kiernan advanced to the second round by defeating Genius Chidzikwe of SMU, 8-6, in the pro-set match. However, he dropped an 8-4 match to Texas Michael Blue and was eliminated.
In his first match as a Tiger, LSU freshman Ajay Ramaswami was defeated, 8-6, by Tennessees Paul Podbury in the first round of the qualifying draw.
LSU freshman Mario Alvarez also saw his first action as a Tiger in the prequalifying draw of the championships, falling to Dukes Marco Cerenko, 6-4, 6-0, in the first round on Sept. 18.