TULSA, Okla. — The No. 13-ranked Tigers used a doubles-point thriller on court No. 1 to propel the team to a win over Tulsa on Sunday at the end of a five-match road streak.
The Tigers (16-4, 6-3 SEC) won four of the five matches, which were played within nine days. Sunday’s match was played at the Michael D. Case Tennis Stadium, the site of this year’s NCAA Championship tournament.
LSU fought hard to come up with the doubles point in Sunday’s match. The Tigers’ 41st-ranked pair of Cory Ross and Sebastian Rutka grabbed and 8-1 win on court No. 2. Ken Skupski and Peter Richman of LSU then lost a 9-7 battle at No. 3, seeming to leave the Tigers out of luck. LSU’s 26th-ranked combo of Bryan Fisher and Jason Hazley trailed 7-3 in their match on court No. 1.
But Fisher and Hazley mounted a six-point rally against 36th-ranked Dustin Taylor and Alejandro Tejerina to win the match and clinch the doubles point for the Tigers.
“The doubles point gave us a lot of momentum,” Brown said. “These guys showed a lot of character. That changed the complexion of the match.”
The Tigers went on take wins on five singles courts. Skupski and Hazley earned wins over ranked opponents at the top two singles positions. Skupski beat 99th-ranked Taylor and Hazley earned a win over No. 101 Tejerina.
Ross extended his winning streak to six consecutive matches and Bryan Fisher won on court No. 3 to ice the match for LSU. The Golden Hurricane’s only win came on court No. 5 where Tom Murray beat Sebastian Rutka.
“I think to win four out of five matches on the road against the teams that we played says a lot about our team,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We are excited about coming home now and playing Florida and South Carolina with the SEC still up for grabs.”
The Tigers return to Robinson Stadium next Friday for a 4 p.m. showdown against eighth-ranked Florida. They end their regular season the following Sunday against 36th-ranked South Carolina.
#13 LSU 6, #53 Tulsa 1
Singles:
No. 1 #28 Ken Skupski (LSU) def. #99 Dustin Taylor (Tulsa), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6
No. 2 Jason Hazley (LSU) def. #101 Alejandro Tejerina (Tulsa), 7-6, 6-3
No. 3 Bryan Fisher (LSU) def. Shunsuke Shimizu (Tulsa), 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
No. 4 Peter Richman (LSU) def. Aleksander Charpantidis (Tulsa), 6-1, 6-4
No. 5 Tom Murray (Tulsa) def. Sebastian Rutka (LSU), 6-4, 7-5
No. 6 Cory Ross (LSU) def. Federico Soriano (Tulsa), 6-4, 6-2
Doubles:
No. 1 #26 Fisher/Hazley (LSU) def. #36 Taylor/Tejerina (Tulsa), 9-7
No. 2 #41 Ross/Rutka (LSU) def. Charpantidis/Murray (Tulsa), 8-1
No. 3 Camacho/Shimizu (Tulsa) def. Richman/Skupski (LSU), 9-7