LOUISVILLE — The LSU men’s tennis team dropped a 4-3 heatbreaker to 14th-ranked Tennessee Friday afternoon in the Rolex National Indoor Team Championships.
“They have a tremendous line-up,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “We need contributions from everyone on a day like this and it wasn’t a great day for everyone.”
The loss dropped LSU to 4-1 on the season while Tennessee improved to 8-2 overall. The match does not count for either team in the Southeastern Conference.
With the match tied at 3-3, LSU’s Ed Rubin and Tennessee’s Peter Handoyo, ranked 25th, were left on court three. Rubin, who clinched the match on Thursday for the Tigers, was unable to upset Handoyo in the third-set match-tiebreaker (first player to 10, win by two).
Under the experimental format used during the tournament, any match forced to a third-set would be decided by a match tiebreaker.
“We haven’t had much luck with match tiebreakers so far this year,” said Brown. “Usually it has been that the player winning the second set has won the tiebreaker and we haven’t been in that position. But, because it is experimental, it is not something that will hurt us down the line.”
Tennessee’s points came from the heart of the singles line up as the Vols won at Nos. 2 through 5 for the second consecutive day. Mark Fitzpatrick began the winning with his 6-3, 6-3 win over Jesse Smatt at No. 5
Mark Parsons, ranked 29th, then upset LSU’s Tom Hand, ranked 15th, on court two in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. Tennessee’s third point came when No. 45 Adam Carey finished off Dan Kiernan 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4.
LSU won the doubles point and added singles wins at Nos. 1 and 6 to force the match to No. 3 singles.
In doubles, Michal Chmela and Dan Kiernan knocked off the 49th-ranked duo of Mark Parsons and Adam Carey 8-6 at No. 1. Rubin and Tom Hand clinched the point with a thrilling 9-8 (12) victory in the No. 2 position.
“It was one of the most thrilling college doubles matches I have ever seen. We did a great job to earn the point and at that point Chmela won at No. 1 singles over Tennessee’s talented freshman, Tate Roberts, 6-4, 7-6 (2). At the No. 6 position, Ajay Ramaswami upset No. 90 Paul Podbury 6-3, 6-4 in his biggest win of the season.
-agate to follow-
#14 Tennessee 4, #1 LSU 3
National Indoor Championships
Louisville, Ky.
SINGLES
No. 1 – #18 Michal Chmela (LSU) def. Tate Roberts, 6-4, 7-6 (2)
No. 2 – #29 Mark Parsons (UT) def. #15 Tom Hand, 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 – #25 Peter Handoyo (UT) def. Ed Rubin, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 1-0 (10-3)*
No. 4 – #45 Adam Carey (UT) def. Dan Kiernan, 6-3, 6-3
No. 5 – Mark Fitzpatrick (UT) def. Jesse Smatt, 6-3, 6-3
No. 6 – Ajay Ramaswami (LSU) def. #90 Paul Podbury, 6-3, 6-4
DOUBLES
No. 1 – Chmela-Kiernan (LSU) def. #49 Carey-Parsons, 8-6
No. 2 – Fitpatrick-Podbury (UT) def. Hand-Rubin, 9-8 (12)
No. 3 – Handoyo-Roberts (UT) def. Ramaswami-Smatt, 8-2
* clinched match