STARKVILLE, Miss. — The 17th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team rallied from a 3-1 deficit against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Friday to post a thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind victory in a crucial Southeastern Conference match held at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre in Starkville, Miss.
“I thought that this was a really big win for us today,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “Neither team played its best tennis, but we were able to come out on top and will definitely take a win on the road in the SEC, even if it is an ugly win. I’m really proud of our guys. They overcame a lot of adversity today and a few of them had to do it while not playing at a 100 percent.”
With the overall score of Friday’s match knotted at 3-3, LSU’s Bryan Fisher recorded a crucial 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Mississippi State’s Jerome Le Belicard on court No. 3 to clinch the Tigers’ fourth SEC win of the season.
The victory improved Fisher’s 2002-03 overall record to 13-14 and upped his dual mark on the season to 11-5.
Mississippi State (7-10, 3-6 SEC) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on Friday as the Bulldogs earned the doubles point with wins in two of the three doubles matches.
On court No. 1, Mississippi State’s combination of Le Belicard and Romain Ambert knocked off the Tigers’ 13th-ranked tandem of Fisher and Jason Hazley, 8-3, while the Bulldogs’ pair of Rene-Charles Combette and Max Fomine outlasted LSU’s Brandon Nicholson and Peter Richman in an exhilarating 9-8(10) contest on court No. 3.
The Tigers’ Cory Ross and Sebastian Rutka prevented a Mississippi State sweep in the doubles competition by picking up an 8-4 win on court No. 2. Ross and Rutka own a team-leading 11-2 record in dual matches this season.
After falling behind 2-0 on Friday, LSU (11-6, 4-5 SEC) registered its first point of the afternoon with a 6-1, 6-4 win from Rutka on court No. 4. Rutka, the Tigers’ junior native of Krakow, Poland, defeated Mississippi State’s Fomine and extended his winning streak to four with the win. Fomine came into the contest as the 123rd-ranked singles player in the nation.
LSU’s 38th-ranked Richman and freshman Paul White also picked up crucial singles victories on Friday. Richman defeated Combette on court No. 2, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, while White rallied for a straight-set win over the Bulldogs’ Luc Maasdorp, 7-6(3), 7-5, in the No. 6 singles matchup. With his victory, Richman tied the match at 3-3 and upped his overall record on the season to 15-13.
The 17th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will next be in action on Sunday as the Tigers remain on the road to face the nation’s fifth-ranked Ole Miss Rebels at 1 p.m. in another critical SEC Western Division matchup in Oxford, Miss.
#17 LSU (11-6, 4-5 SEC) def. Mississippi State (7-10, 3-6 SEC), 4-3
Doubles
1. Ambert/Le Belicard (MSU) def. #13 Fisher/Hazley (LSU), 8-3
2. Ross/Rutka (LSU) def. Girod/Michael Hailey (MSU), 8-4
3. Combette/Fomine (MSU) def. Brandon Nicholson/Richman, 9-8(10)*
Order of Finish: 1,2,3
Singles
1. #25 Romain Ambert (MSU) def. Jason Hazley (LSU), 6-3, 6-2
2. #38 Peter Richman (LSU) def. Rene-Charles Combette (MSU), 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
3. Bryan Fisher (LSU) def. Jerome Le Belicard (MSU), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4**
4. Sebastian Rutka (LSU) def. #123 Max Fomine (MSU), 6-1, 6-4
5. Florent Girod (MSU) def. Cory Ross (LSU), 3-6, 6-0, 6-1
6. Paul White (LSU) def. Luc Maasdorp (MSU), 7-6(3), 7-5
Order of Finish: 1, 4, 5, 6, 2, 3
* Clinched doubles point
** Cliched match