LEXINGTON, Ky. — The No. 14 Tigers fell hard on the road Friday to No. 18 Kentucky, losing 6-1 in their first SEC match away from home.
LSU (9-2, 1-2) lost two close doubles matches on courts 1 and 2. It was the first loss for Ken Skupski and Peter Richman, who dropped their match on court No. 2, 8-6 to Evan Austin and Alex Hume.
Cory Ross and Sebastian Rutka earned an 8-4 win over Kentucky’s Nate Emge and Tigran Martirosyan on court No. 3.
“We had a disappointing doubles point but we played well at three,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “Then we left a few on the court in singles. We had chances on all six courts at some point but we didn’t capitalize on them.”
In singles, LSU’s 58th-ranked Ken Skuspki could not overcome Kentucky’s 15th-ranked Jesse Witten at No. 1 singles, losing 6-2, 6-0. Skupski, this week’s SEC Player of the Week, beat two consecutive top-50 opponents before the loss.
Even after falling behind 2-0, the Tigers had a chance to close in. Four of them tied or led in the second set, but Kentucky pulled away.
The Tigers would only pick up one singles win. Cory Ross beat Jason Mallaiah, 6-7, 6-1, 6-2 on court No. 6.
LSU’s road trip will not get any easier Sunday when they travel to Nashville to face 13th-ranked Vanderbilt at 1 p.m.
“We are going to separate these matches,” Brown said. “We need to come out with fire in the doubles point, which we will, and take advantage of our opportunities in singles.”
#18 Kentucky 6, #14 LSU 1
Singles competition:
1. #15 Jesse Witten (KEN) def. #58 Ken Skupski (LSU) 6-2, 6-0
2. Evan Austin (KEN) def. Jason Hazley (LSU) 7-5, 4-3, (def.)
3. Tigran Martirosyan (KEN) def. Peter Richman (LSU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
4. Nate Emge (KEN) def. Bryan Fisher (LSU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Rahim Esmail (KEN) def. Sebastian Rutka (LSU) 7-6, 6-4
6. Cory Ross (LSU) def. Jason Mallaiah (KEN) 6-7, 6-1, 6-2
Doubles competition:
1. Rahim Esmail/Jesse Witten (KEN) def. #20 Bryan Fisher/Jason Hazley (LSU) 8-6
2. Evan Austin/Alex Hume (KEN) def. Ken Skupski/Peter Richman (LSU) 8-6
3. Cory Ross/Sebastian Rutka (LSU) def. Nate Emge/Tigran Martirosyan (KEN) 8-4