BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team used a home court advantage to shut out Clemson 4-0 on Sunday afternoon and advance to the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the 16th time in the last 17 years.
LSU will play Illinois (which defeated Indiana, 4-2) to advance to the third round of the championships on Saturday.
“Clemson is a very good team and you know they are always going to fight to the end. There is not going to be any easy points,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “The match was closer than the score indicated and we were lucky to get out with a win.”
LSU jumped out to a 1-0 lead on the visiting Tigers in doubles by winning at Nos. 1 and 2. Michal Chmela and Dan Kiernan, ranked ninth, beat Clemson’s duo of Josh Goffi and Darren Knight 8-6 at No. 1.
Tom Hand and Ed Rubin then clinched the point at No. 2 with an 8-5 victory over Tomasz Boniekci and Marko Gojanovic.
Once in singles, Ajay Ramaswami quickly disposed of Luis Garcia at No. 3, 6-0, 6-2 to give LSU a 2-0 lead. Kiernan followed quickly at No. 4 with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Brad Emendorfer.
Jesse Smatt finished off the match with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Marko Gojanovic at No. 6 singles. It is the second straight year Smatt has clinched the match to send LSU to the Sweet 16.
“They have too many guys that have been there before. Our guys were hoping to win but LSU’s guys have been there before and their Final Four experience paid off,” said Clemson coach Chuck Kriese.
NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament
Second Round
May 14, 2000
Baton Rouge, La.
LSU 4, Clemson 0
SINGLES
No. 1 – Michal Chmela (LSU) vs. Josh Goffi (CU), suspended
No. 2 – Tom Hand (LSU) vs. Tomasz Boniecki (CU), suspended
No. 3 – Ajay Ramaswami (LSU) def. Luis Garcia (CU), 6-0, 6-2
No. 4 – Dan Kiernan (LSU) def. Brad Emendorfer (CU), 6-4, 6-1
No. 5 – Ed Rubin (LSU) vs. Micah Thompson (CU), suspended
No. 6 – Jesse Smatt (LSU) vs. Marko Gojanovic (CU), 6-3, 6-3*
DOUBLES
No. 1 – Chmela-Kiernan (LSU) def. Goffi-Knight (CU), 8-6
No. 2 – Hand-Rubin (LSU) def. Boniecki-Gojanovic (CU), 8-5*
No. 3 – Ramaswami-Smatt (LSU) vs. Cohn-Garcia (CU), suspended