BATON ROUGE — The 19th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team overcame both the rain and the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles on Thursday as the Tigers were victorious, 6-1, despite a two-hour rain delay at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“We handled a tough situation today, and we handled it very well,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We performed well even with all of the bad weather and all of the delays, and we finally finished the match about six hours after we began. We also took care of a very good team today in Southern Miss. We didn’t let any of the distractions get to us.”
With the win, the LSU men’s tennis team improved to a 6-2 overall record on the season, while the Golden Eagles dropped to a 1-5 mark in dual-match play.
Halfway through the doubles round on Thursday, the sky opened up and forced a rain delay with the Tigers leading on all three-doubles courts.
Two hours later, the teams were allowed to resume play and LSU’s 28th-ranked doubles team consisting of Dan Kiernan and Sebastian Rutka took the first match of the contest, 8-2. Kiernan and Rutka improved to an overall record of 11-2 on the season by recording the win over Southern Miss’ Daniel Homedes and Miikka Kangas.
LSU’s No. 2 doubles team comprised of Jesse Smatt and Sanjin Sadovich earned the doubles point and gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead as they disposed of USM’s Mathias Werren and Nicolas Carteret, 8-1. Sadovich and Smatt possess a perfect 6-0 record in doubles play this season.
In singles play, the Tigers clinched the team victory with three-straight two-set wins on courts No. 2-4. LSU’s Kiernan made the total-team score 2-0 by defeating Southern Miss’ 80th-ranked Homedes, 6-3, 6-3, on court No. 2, while the Tigers’ Sadovich followed shortly on court No. 4 with an impressive, 6-3, 6-1, victory over USM’s Werren. The win marked Sadovich’s third straight and improved his overall record to 5-2.
Dashing the hopes of the Golden Eagles on Thursday was LSU’s 85th-ranked Smatt. After an arduous first set, the Tiger junior from Cooper City, Fla., handily defeated Southern Miss’ David Jannson, 6-2, in the second set to close out the match. The final score of Smatt’s battle on court No. 3 was 7-5, 6-2.
LSU’s talented freshmen in Bryan Fisher and Rutka each picked up three-set victories. Fisher dropped USM’s Uwe Gneiting, 7-6(7), 5-7, 10-8, on court No. 6, while Rutka held on to defeat Konsta Finnila, 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-7, at No. 5 singles.
On court No. 1, the Tigers’ eighth-ranked Ajay Ramaswami was upset by Southern Miss’ Kingas in a third-set super tiebreaker, 10-5. Ramaswami was outhit in the first set of the match, 7-5, but recovered to win the second set, 6-4. The loss marked Ramaswami’s second in a row and his ninth of the 2000-01 season.
“We just wanted to get through this match and put Mississippi State behind us,” Brown stated. “We really needed this win and now we are looking forward to playing Vanderbilt and the rest of Southeastern Conference play.”
The 19th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will next be in action at home on Saturday, March 3, at 1 p.m. against the Vanderbilt Commodores in the “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
#19 LSU 6, Southern Miss 1
Singles
1. Miikka Kangas (USM) def. #8 Ajay Ramaswami (LSU), 7-5, 4-6, 10-5.
2. Dan Kiernan (LSU) def. #80 Daniel Homedes (USM), 6-3, 6-3.
3. #85 Jesse Smatt (LSU) def. David Jansson (USM), 7-5, 6-2.
4. Sanjin Sadovich (LSU) def. Mathias Werron (USM), 6-3, 6-1.
5. Sebastian Rutka (LSU) def. Konsta Finnila (USM), 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-7.
6. Bryan Fisher (LSU) def. Uwe Gneiting (USM), 7-6(7), 5-7, 10-8.
Doubles
1. #28 Kiernan/Rutka (LSU) def. Homedes/Kangas (USM), 8-2.
2. Smatt/Sadovich (LSU) def. Werren/Nicolas Carteret (USM), 8-1.
3. Ramaswami (LSU) vs. Finnila/Jansson (USM), unfinished.