STARKVILLE, Miss. — The 10th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team was upset by No. 18 Georgia on Friday night, 4-1, for the second time in six days.
The second-round loss ends LSU’s run of six straight SEC Tournament victories and two consecutive SEC Tournament titles.
The Bulldogs (15-9), who trailed early in most of the six singles matches, rallied to win four of them to earn the victory.
“Georgia, to their credit, hung in a lot of matches they were down and we weren’t able to close out the matches we had leads in,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “They showed a lot of character in not getting down on themselves and coming back.”
LSU (18-5) started on fire and won the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3. The team of Michal Chmela and Dan Kiernan, ranked No. 17, pulled off a mild upset by beating 16th-ranked Matias Boeker and Travis Parrott at No. 1 doubles 8-4.
The team of Jesse Smatt and Ajay Ramaswami were next to finish as they held off Nicolas Boeker and Brandon Wagner at the No. 3 spot 9-8 (6). Doubles action on court two was suspended while in a tiebreaker.
“We did a good job in getting the doubles point, but we weren’t able to capitalize on the momentum in singles,” said Brown.
Early in singles, the Tigers used momentum from the doubles to build early leads on three courts in singles.
However, Georgia proved to be too strong as it rallied and finished off the Tigers with four straight-set wins at Nos. 1, 4, 5 and 6.
The match was clinched at No. 6 singles where Brandon Wagner beat Mario Alvarez 7-6 (5), 6-1.
Action on court two, where LSU’s Ajay Ramaswami led No. 57 Adam Seri in the third set, and court three, where the Tigers Dan Kiernan led No. 58 Lesley Joseph in the third set, was suspended after the Bulldogs clinched the match.
#18 Georgia 4, #10 LSU 1
SEC Tournament Second Round
Starkville, Miss.
No. 1 – #22 Matias Boeker (UGA) def. #21 Michal Chmela (LSU), 7-6 (3), 6-4
No. 2 – Ajay Ramaswami (LSU) vs. #57 Adam Seri (UGA), suspended
No. 3 – Dan Kiernan (LSU) vs. #58 Lesley Joseph (UGA), suspended
No. 4 – Travis Parrott (UGA) def. #100 Ed Rubin (LSU), 6-1, 6-4
No. 5 – Nicolas Boeker (UGA) def. Jesse Smatt (LSU), 6-4, 6-0
No. 6 – Brandon Wagner (UGA) def. Mario Alvarez (LSU), 7-6 (5), 6-1
DOUBLES
No. 1 – #17 Chmela-Kiernan (LSU) def. #16 M. Boeker-Parrott (UGA), 8-4
No. 2 – Mateljan-Rubin (LSU) vs. Seri-Joseph (UGA), suspended
No. 3 – Ramaswami-Smatt (LSU) def. N. Boeker-Wagner (UGA), 9-8 (6)