LOUISVILLE — The top-ranked LSU men’s tennis team ended the weekend with a 4-3 victory over Indiana State in the fifth-place match of the National Indoor Championships.
The win improved the Tigers to 5-1 on the season and gave them a 2-1 record in the national tournament. Indiana State falls to 7-3 including a 1-2 National Indoor record.
“We got a lot of good work done this week at the National Indoors. We have been working very hard and we had some guys have that hard work pay off this weekend,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown.
LSU’s 4-3 victory was the second of the weekend for the Tigers by that count, the other coming on Thursday against Southern Cal. The Tigers lone loss of the weekend came as a 4-3 decision to Tennessee.
Indiana State had knocked off defending national champion Georgia in round one on Thursday before falling to No. 2 Stanford in Friday’s quarterfinal.
“I think the competition here this weekend shows the parity that has hit college tennis. One point is going to make the difference in a lot of matches.”
The Tigers took the doubles point for a 1-0 lead with wins an No. 1 and 2. Michal Chmela and Daniel Kiernan remained undefeated (11-0) together in dual matches with the win at No. 1. Seniors Tom Hand and Ed Rubin clinched the point with an 8-5 victory at No. 2. In singles, LSU recorded three straight-set victories to score the points needed for the win.
Hand, ranked 15th, rolled past Adam Baranowski 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 while Ajay Ramaswami beat Greg Tranquada 7-5, 6-4 at No. 6. Ramaswami was 3-0 in singles for the weekend.
The Sycamores managed to keep it close with a wins at No. 1 and No. 5 before Kiernan clinched the match with a 7-6 (2), 7-5 win over Gareth Keating at No. 4.
Following the clinching point, Indiana State’s Henry Choi beat Rubin in a match tiebreaker (first to 10, win by two) that replaced the third set.
“This was a quality win for us,” said Brown. “Indiana State proved they would be a tough team to beat by beating Georgia on Thursday.”
The experimental format used by the tournament proved unkind to the Tigers this weekend. LSU was unable to sweep the three doubles matches in any match that would have earned them a second point and a 2-0 lead heading into singles.
Also, match tiebreakers which replaced each third set seemed to be the Achilles’ heel of LSU this weekend. The Tigers went 0-5 in them with one of those losses clinching the match for the opponent. Neither match tiebreakers or a possible two points for doubles will be used in any other official match.
“The format was new for everyone and we just didn’t have as much luck with it as some of the other teams,” said Brown. “We won’t have to face it later on this year so we won’t dwell on it to much.”
#1 LSU 4, #36 Indiana State 3
National Indoor Championships
Louisville, Ky.
SINGLES
No. 1 – Jonas Pilbor (ISU) def. #18 Michal Chmela, 6-1, 6-4
No. 2 – #15 Tom Hand (LSU) def. Adam Baranowski, 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 – Henry Choi (ISU) def. Ed Rubin, 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10)
No. 4 – Dan Kiernan (LSU) def. Gareth Keating, 7-6 (2), 7-5
No. 5 – Stefan Him (ISU) def. Jesse Smatt, 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (8)
No. 6 – Ajay Ramaswami (LSU) def. Greg Tranquada, 7-5, 6-4
DOUBLES
No. 1 – Chmela-Kiernan (LSU) def. Keating-Pilbor, 8-5
No. 2 – Hand-Rubin (LSU) def. Baranowski-Him, 8-5
No. 3 – Crick-Tranquada (ISU) def. Smatt-Ramaswami, 8-5