ATHENS, Ga. — The 11th-seeded LSU men’s tennis team’s season ended Saturday morning in Athens, Ga., as sixth-seeded Illinois managed to survive with a 4-3 victory over the Tigers.
With the match knotted at 3-3, both teams attention focused on court six where LSU’s Jesse Smatt and Illinois’ Nathan Zeder were deadlocked in the third set of the deciding match. The set bounced back and forth, until Zeder led 5-4 and served for the match.
After staving off two break points held by Smatt, Zeder clinched the match for the favored Illini on match point number two.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t get it done in singles today,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “As things tighten up, the level of play goes down. We didn’t play as well when the pressure was on.”
The match on court six was the only to advance to a third set as Illinois took straight set victories at Nos. 1, 2 and 5. LSU convincingly won at Nos. 3 and 4 and earned the doubles point.
“For three hours we were down and out in that match,” said Illinois coach Craig Tiley. “One of the trademarks of this team all season has been its ability to to fight back and they showed that today.”
Seniors Tom Hand and Ed Rubin upset the 23rd-ranked team of Jeff Laski and Jamal Parker at No. 2 to clinch the tightly contested doubles point, giving LSU a 1-0 lead.
“I thought we did a good job of coming out and getting the doubles point as we have so many times this season. That has been part of our formula for success,” said Brown.
Ajay Ramaswami was first off the court after cruising to a 6-4, 6-1 win over Graydon Oliver at No. Singles. Cary Franklin, ranked 13th, answered quickly for the Illini as he beat No. 23 Michal Chmela 6-3, 7-5 at No. 1.
The Tigers then took a 3-1 lead as Dan Kiernan out hit Jamal Parker at No. 4 singles 7-5, 7-5.
With his team behind, 68th-ranked Jeff Laski finished off his upset No. 20 Tom Hand on court two, 6-4, 6-2.
After winning a marathon tiebreaker in the first set, Mike Kosta beat Ed Rubin at No. 5, 7-6 (11), 6-1 to set up Zeder’s dramatic victory to seal the win.
NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships
Athens, Ga.
#4 Illinois vs. #10 LSU
SINGLES
No. 1 – #13 Cary Franklin (UI) def. #23 Michal Chmela (LSU), 6-3, 7-5
No. 2 – #68 Jeff Laski (UI) def. #20 Tom Hand (LSU), 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 – #99 Ajay Ramaswami (LSU) def. Graydon Oliver (UI), 6-4, 6-1
No. 4 – Dan Kiernan (LSU) def. Jamal Parker (UI), 7-5, 7-5
No. 5 – Mike Kosta (UI) def. Ed Rubin (LSU), 7-6 (11), 6-1
No. 6 – Matt Snyder (UI) def. Jesse Smatt (LSU), 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
DOUBLES
No. 1 -#25 Franklin-Oliver (UI) def. #9 Chmela-Kiernan (LSU), 8-3
No. 2 – Hand-Rubin (LSU) def. #23 Laski-Parker (UI), 8-6
No. 3 – Ramaswami-Smatt (LSU) def. Snyder-Kosta (UI), 8-5