HOUSTON — Four LSU players used three-set singles wins to advance Friday in the winners bracket of the Rice Crowne Plaza Invitational. The Tigers sent six singles players and two doubles teams to the winner’s bracket.
Jason Hazley rallied from a first set loss to beat Tulsa’s Achim Roth, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 in the A flight bracket. Hazley and Danny Bryan pulled out a close win in the A doubles bracket, beating Purdue’s David Robinson and Paul Rose, 9-8.
LSU’s No. 87-ranked Peter Richman also got a three-set victory over Tulsa’s Federico Soriano in the B singles bracket. Bryan beat Purdue’s Filip Koziell 7-6, 6-3 in the same bracket. The Tigers used a pair of three-set wins in the C singles bracket to move into the quarterfinals. Colt Gaston beat Tulsa’s Diego Comacho and Paul White outlasted Rice’s Take Morita. Kevin Dessauer advanced in the D bracket with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Purdue’s Matt Zollman.
Two LSU newcomers, Mark Growcott and Jonathan Howard, did not fare as well in their first matches. Growcott lost to Purdue’s 56th-ranked Paul Rose in the A bracket. Howard lost to Tulsa’s Andy Connelly in the D bracket.
Growcott picked up a win in the A doubles bracket with Richman. The two beat Jason Mok and Take Morita of Rice, 8-6. LSU’s pairs of Dessauer and Howard and Gaston and White were both handed losses in the B doubles bracket.
Flight A Doubles
Hazley/Bryan (LSU) def. Robinson/Rose (PU), 9-8
Growcott/Richman (LSU) def. Mok/Morita (Rice), 8-6
Flight B Doubles
Harknett/Shin (Rice) def. Dessauer/Howard (LSU), 9-7
R. Cunningham/Connelly (TU) def. Gaston/White (LSU), 9-8
Flight A Singles
Rose (PU) def. Growcott (LSU), 6-3, 6-3
Hazley (LSU) def. Roth (TU), 3-6, 6-0, 6-4
Flight B Singles
Richman (LSU) def. F. Soriano (TU), 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
Bryan (LSU) def. Koziell (PU), 7-6, 6-3
Flight C Singles
White (LSU) def. Morita (Rice), 6-7, 6-2, 6-4
Gaston (LSU) def. Camacho (TU), 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(2)
Flight D Singles
Connelly (TU) def. Howard (LSU), 6-0, 6-2
Dessauer (LSU) def. Zollman (PU), 6-3, 6-4