BATON ROUGE — The 21st-ranked LSU men’s tennis team fell a couple of games short in singles play on Wednesday, as the Tigers were defeated by the 25th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies, 4-2, at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“I think that we played well in spots tonight,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “I would say that we played a good doubles point, but a couple of guys struggled for us in the singles competition. It’s tough to have the confidence that you need to win after you’ve lost a couple of matches and the way to get that confidence is by winning.”
With Texas A&M leading the match, 3-1, LSU was still alive in third sets on courts No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6. Bryan Fisher, the Tigers’ powerful sophomore from Nashville, Tenn., closed out his victory over Lester Cook on court No. 3, 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-3, to cut Texas A&M’s lead to 3-2. Fisher improved to an overall record of 14-10 and 5-2 in dual matches with the win.
“Bryan played a very good match today,” Brown said. “Cook’s a fairly highly ranked player and was ranked higher than Bryan in juniors, so I think that he played very well in his match.”
Shortly after Fisher’s win on court No. 3, Texas A&M’s flamboyant sophomore Khaled El Dorry clinched the Aggies’ third-straight victory over the Tigers by outlasting LSU’s Jason Hazley on court No. 6. Texas A&M’s 4-2 win on Wednesday also marked the Aggies’ fourth-consecutive victory of the season.
The Tigers dropped its first home contest of the season Wednesday night and fell to an overall record of 3-4. LSU had lost its previous four matches in hard-fought battles against No. 2 Illinois, No. 18 Auburn, No. 22 Alabama and the 25th-ranked Aggies.
LSU’s arduous schedule doesn’t get any easier in the near future as the Tigers host No. 23 South Carolina on Friday at 4 p.m. and No. 18 Florida at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Both matches will be played at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium. Admission is free.
“It’s been a tough deal for us,” said Brown. “The only way for us to get out of it is to keep scrapping and get a win. That win will give us confidence and that confidence will make us play better, but right now we’re just going to keep have to keep fighting and with a couple breaks here or there, we’ll bounce right back.”
The Tigers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in Wednesday’s non-conference duel by recording two victories in doubles play to win the first point of the contest. LSU’s combination of Fisher and Cory Ross dominated the Aggies’ team of Keith From and Ante Matijevic on court No. 3, 8-4, while Hazley and Jesse Smatt clinched the vital point, 9-7, on court No. 2.
In singles play, Texas A&M took control of the match with three quick wins on courts No. 4, No. 1 and No. 2. The Aggies Matijevic downed LSU’s Sebastian Rutka, 6-0, 6-3, on court No. 4, while 44th-ranked Ryan Newport frustrated the Tigers’ Dan Kiernan on court No. 1, 6-2, 6-4. Texas A&M’s From notched the Aggies’ third point of the contest with a 6-3, 7-6(1) win over LSU’s Peter Richman on court No. 2.
No. 25 Texas A&M 4, No. 21 LSU 2
Doubles
1. Kiernan/Rutka (LSU) vs. Cook/Newport, suspended.
2. Hazley/Smatt (LSU) def. Bauer/Skube, 9-7.
3. Fisher/Cory Ross (LSU) def. From/Matijevic, 8-4.
Singles
1. #44 Ryan Newport (A&M) def. Dan Kiernan, 6-2, 6-4.
2. Keith From (A&M) def. Peter Richman, 6-3, 7-6(1).
3. Bryan Fisher (LSU) def. Lester Cook, 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-3.
4. Ante Matijevic (A&M) def. Sebastian Rutka, 6-0, 6-3.
5. Jesse Smatt (LSU) vs. #76 Jarin Skube, suspended.
6. Khaled El Dorry (A&M) def. Jason Hazlety, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.