BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team broke out of an eight-match slump in convincing fashion on Thursday, as the Tigers thrashed the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, 6-1, at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“This was definitely a huge win for us,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “Any time you run into a rough patch during the season, it’s good to get a win. Southern Miss was not a cake-walk team by any means, they are a very talented team and we came in with the experience of playing some top teams and it showed.”
Thursday’s non-conference match against Southern Miss was the Tigers’ first contest versus a team not ranked in the top 25 since Feb. 10. LSU’s previous eight matches came against No. 2 Illinois, No. 3 Georgia, No. 8 Florida, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 13 Tennessee, No. 18 Auburn, No. 19 South Carolina and No. 21 Alabama.
With LSU leading the overall score of the match 3-0, Jason Hazley secured the Tigers’ fourth victory of the season by defeating the Golden Eagles’ David Canudas in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2. Hazley, the Tigers’ promising freshman from Bradenton, Fla., improved to an overall record of 18-13 on the season.
LSU upped its dual-match record to 4-8 on the season and improved to 4-2 against opponents outside of the Southeastern Conference. The Tigers will look to improve to 5-2 against non-conference foes on Saturday as they host 23rd-ranked South Florida at 1 p.m.
Southern Miss dropped its third-consecutive match and fell to an overall record of 3-7 on the season. The Golden Eagles will return home for the first time since March 11 on Sunday and host Louisiana-Monroe.
LSU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the contest as the Tigers dominated doubles play to earn the doubles point. Brandon Nicholson and Bryan Fisher cruised past Southern Miss’ David Terol and Uwe Gneiting, 8-0, on court No. 3, while LSU’s No. 1-doubles tandem of Dan Kiernan and Hazley dropped Miikka Kangas and Nicolas Carteret, 8-6.
The Tigers’ newly-formed combination of Cory Ross and Sebastian Rutka clinched the vital doubles point on court No. 2 over David Jansson and Canudas. With the 8-4 victory, LSU clinched its first doubles point since March 8 against South Carolina.
In singles play, the Tigers accumulated wins on five of the six courts.
LSU’s 87th-ranked Kiernan rallied past Kangas, 6-4, 6-0, on court No. 1, Fisher topped Gneiting on court No. 5, 7-6(3), 6-3, and Rutka frustrated the Golden Eagles’ Carteret, 6-3, 6-4, in the No. 6-singles match.
LSU’s talented freshman from Toronto, Canada, Peter Richman, demolished Southern Miss’ Juanjo Martin, 6-0, 6-1, on court No. 2. With the 45-minute victory, Richman upped his overall record to 15-12 on the season.
“We had a couple of guys out there today that were very hungry for a win,” Brown said. “Whether it was an individual win, a team win, whatever kind of a win, we were hungry for it, and it can only help give us some confidence heading into Saturday’s match against South Florida.”
The LSU men’s tennis team will look to remain undefeated at home this season as the Tigers host No. 23-ranked South Florida on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
LSU 6, Southern Miss 1
Doubles
1. Kiernan/Hazley (LSU) def. Kangas/Carteret (USM), 8-6
2. Cory Ross/Rutka (LSU) def. Jansson/Canudas (USM), 8-4*
3. Fisher/Brandon Nicholson (LSU) def. David Terol/Gneiting (USM), 8-0
Singles
1. #87 Dan Kiernan (LSU) def. Miikka Kangas (USM), 6-4, 6-0
2. Peter Richman (LSU) def. Juanjo Martin (USM), 6-0, 6-1
3. David Jansson (USM) def. Jesse Smatt (LSU), 6-3, 1-6, 6-1
4. Jason Hazley (LSU) def. David Canudas (USM), 7-5, 6-2*
5. Bryan Fisher (LSU) def. Uwe Gneiting (USM), 7-6(3), 6-3
6. Sebastian Rutka (LSU) def. Nicolas Carteret (USM), 6-3, 6-4