BATON ROUGE — LSU easily defeated Southeastern La. and Centenary in their first matches in over two weeks Sunday, extending their streak to 79 consecutive victories over in-state opponents.
The weekend started later than planned for the 15th-ranked Tigers (4-0) after Saturday’s match against No. 71 Louisiana-Lafayette was postponed till Monday due to rain.
LSU beat Southeastern La., 6-1, in their first match. Ken Skupski, LSU’s 33rd-ranked freshman, clinched the win with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Eric Subriats at No. 2 singles.
“It was good to get back on court against a strong Southeastern team,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “Coach (Jason) Hayes has assembled a strong team this year.”
LSU’s Peter Richman won his match at No. 1 singles, 6-4, 6-3 despite falling behind early to Haris Huremovic.
Bryan Fisher suffered the Tigers’ only loss of the afternoon to Olivier Nussbaum. Fisher won the first set but struggled throughout the second. Nussbaum pulled away late in the tiebreaker to win, 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (6).
The Tigers won all three doubles matches. No LSU doubles team has lost a match in the dual season. Danny Bryan and Cory Ross extended their overall record to 11-1 with an 8-0 win at No. 3 doubles.
“Against Centenary we were able to take care of business,” Brown said. “They were a bit off of their usual strength, but that allowed us to work on dominating an opponent.”
Four Tigers shut out their opponents from Centenary in the second match en route to a 6-0 win. Fisher responded to the earlier loss with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Brian Roberts at No. 1 singles to clinch the match for LSU. Danny Bryan, Colt Gaston and Paul White also had shutouts.
Monday’s match will be toughest yet for the Tigers, who have only lost two matches in the dual season. The Ragin’ Cajuns feature 88th-ranked sophomore Evgenii Corduneau of Moldova and solid lineup that should test the Tigers.
“ULL is an SEC-caliber opponent,” Brown said. “We are looking forward to this match and to getting into the meat of our schedule.”
With Sunday’s matches out of the way the Tigers have just one more opponent not currently ranked in the 75-team ITA national poll.
Tennis Match Results
Southeastern Louisiana vs LSU
#15 LSU 6, Southeastern Louisiana 1
Singles competition:
1. Peter Richman (LSU) def. Haris Huremovic (SLU) 6-4, 6-3
2. #33 Ken Skupski (LSU) def. Eric Subriats (SLU) 6-1, 6-3
3. Olivier Nussbaum (SLU) def. Bryan Fisher (LSU) 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (6)
4. Jason Hazley (LSU) def. Milos Vasovich (SLU) 6-4, 7-5
5. Cory Ross (LSU) def. Matt Tate (SLU) 6-1, 6-3
6. Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Paul Birkett (SLU) 6-3, 6-0
Doubles competition:
1. Ken Skupski/Sebastian Rutka (LSU) def. Haris Huremovic/Milos Vasovich (SLU) 8-6
2. #35 Jason Hazley/Bryan Fisher (LSU) def. Eric Subriats/Matt Tate (SLU) 8-3
3. Cory Ross/Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Paul Birkett/Olivier Nussbaum (SLU) 8-0
Southeastern Louisiana 0-1
LSU 2-0; National ranking #15
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (5,6,2,3,1,4)
Centenary vs LSU
#15 LSU 6, Centenary 0
Singles competition:
1. Bryan Fisher (LSU) def. Brian Roberts (CEN) 6-0, 6-0
2. Sebastian Rutka (LSU) def. Josh Pinto (CEN) 6-1, 6-0
3. Cory Ross (LSU) def. Ross Patrick (CEN) 6-0, 6-0
4. Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Arthur Okura (CEN) 6-3, 6-1
5. Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Andrew Barkley (CEN) 6-0, 6-0
6. Paul White (LSU) def. Chris Champion (CEN) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles were not played
Order of finish: Singles (6,5,3,1,2,4)