COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The 14th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team fell a tie-breaker short on Saturday versus the sixth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies at the Varsity Tennis Courts here in College Station, Texas.
With the total team score knotted at three points apiece, the Tigers’ freshman phenom from Vancouver, Canada, Sanjin Sadovich forced a third-set tie-break against the Aggies’ Ryan Newport in the No. 3 singles match. The pair dueled with the match on the line as the score exchanged hands with seemingly every point, until Newport jumped ahead with an array of brilliant forehand winners and clinched the 4-3 victory for the Aggies, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(5).
The Tiger tennis team dropped its first match of the season and currently holds a 4-1 overall dual-match record. With the victory, Texas A&M improved to 5-1 on the season and avenged its embarrassing 5-2 loss to the Tigers last season in Baton Rouge.
LSU got off on the wrong foot on Saturday, as the Tigers dropped two-doubles matches and relinquished the opening point of the contest to the Aggies. LSU’s doubles team comprised of Jessie Smatt and Sadovich were the lone Tigers’ victory in the doubles competition. Smatt/Sadovich outlasted the A&M pair of Cody Hubbell and Skube, 8-5, on court No. 2.
In singles play, the Tigers’ Dan Kiernan handily defeated Hubbell, 6-4, 6-2, on court No. 2, while the 63rd-ranked Smatt picked up a third-set victory over the Aggies’ Keith From in No. 4 singles, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. Sebastian Rutka, LSU’s talented freshman from Krakow, Poland, accounted for the Tigers’ third and final point of the afternoon on court No. 5, as he recorded a victory over Texas A&M’s Dumitru Caradima in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1.
The 14th-ranked LSU Tigers will next be in action February 15-18, in Louisville, Ky., as the team competes in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
#6 Texas A&M 4, #14 LSU 3
Singles
1. Shuon Madden (A&M) def. #8 Ajay Ramaswami (LSU), 6-2, 6-4.
2. Dan Kiernan (LSU) def. Cody Hubbell (A&M), 6-4, 6-2.
3. Ryan Newport (A&M) def. Sanjin Sadovich (LSU), 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(5).
4. #63 Jessie Smatt (LSU) def. Keith From (A&M), 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
5. Sebastian Rutka (LSU) def. Dumitru Caradima (A&M), 6-4, 6-1.
6. Tres Davis (A&M) def. Bryan Davis (LSU), 6-3, 6-0.
Doubles
1. Caradima/Madden (A&M) def. Kiernan/Ramaswami (LSU), 8-4.
2. Smatt/Sadovich (LSU) def. Hubbell/Skube (A&M), 8-5.
3. Davis/Newport (A&M) def. #14 Rutka/Fisher, 8-5.