BATON ROUGE — The 14th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team shutout the UL-Lafayette Rajin’ Cajuns on Tuesday, 7-0, at the “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium, which marked the Tigers’ final non-conference match before the start of Southeastern Conference play.
“We put a whole match together today, against a team that has some tough positions in it,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “They were missing a couple of the players in the middle of their lineup, but we didn’t let down. We stuck with our game plan and everybody kept full confidence. That will help us in our first SEC Conference match on Sunday versus Mississippi State.”
The Tigers improved to an overall record of 5-1 on the season, while UL-Lafayette fell to a 3-4 dual-meet record. LSU increased its number of wins to 72-straight versus an in-state rival on Tuesday. The Tigers have not been defeated by a school located in Louisiana since 1973. Tulane dropped LSU, 3-6, in the final-dual meet of the 1973 season.
Jesse Smatt, the Tigers’ 69th-ranked singles player in the nation, clinched the match for LSU with a convincing, 6-0, 6-2, win over the Rajin’ Cajuns’ Michael Tarkowski on court No. 3. With the win, Smatt stayed perfect in dual play at 5-0 and improved his overall record to 15-6 on the season.
LSU’s Dan Kiernan also remained impeccable in dual competition on Tuesday as he recorded a 6-2, 6-4, victory against Jakob Ilowski on court No. 2. Kiernan is 6-0 in dual play and 12-5 during the 2000-01 season.
In the singles match of the day, LSU’s seventh-ranked Ajay Ramaswami outlasted UL-Lafayette’s No. 1 player, 87th-ranked Jason Pieters, 7-6(6), 6-3, to close out the Tiger sweep. Ramaswami leads the team in singles victories with 17, and possesses a 17-7 overall record.
After sweeping the doubles point, LSU quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead as John Gray Pou and Sebastian Rutka dismissed their Rajin’ Cajun counterparts in less than an hour. Pou claimed the opening-singles victory of the match on court No. 6, with a 6-2, 6-1 win against Bobby Hawkins, while Sebastian Rutka followed shortly with a 6-0, 6-3 finish versus Cason Mays on court No. 5.
The 14(superscript: th)-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will next be in action on Sunday, February 25, as the Tigers open SEC play on the road versus Mississippi State at 1 p.m.
#14 LSU 7, UL-Lafayette 0
Singles
1. #7 Ajay Ramaswami (LSU) def. #87 Jason Pieters (ULL), 7-6(6), 6-3.
2. Dan Kiernan (LSU) def. Jakob Ilowski (ULL), 6-2, 6-4.
3. #69 Jessie Smatt (LSU) def. Michael Tarkowski (ULL), 6-0, 6-2.
4. Sanjin Sadovich (LSU) def. John Westhuizwn (ULL), 6-3, 7-6(1).
5. Sebastian Rutka (LSU) def. Cason Mays (ULL), 6-0, 6-3.
6. John Gray Pou (LSU) def. Bobby Hawkins (ULL), 6-2, 6-1.
Doubles
1. #49 Kiernan/Rutka (LSU) def. Pieters/Ilowski (ULL), 8-4.
2. Smatt/Sadovich (LSU) def. Westhuizen/Tarkowski (ULL), 9-8(3).
3. Ramaswami/Fisher (LSU) def. Hawkins/Mays (ULL), 8-2.