BATON ROUGE — The No. 12-ranked LSU men’s tennis team got a late start Saturday in their triple-header, but they made up for the lost time with three solid wins.
Every Tiger on the roster saw action in Saturday’s matches, which started four hours late due to rain early Saturday.
“It was a good day to get through,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “It took a lot of patience for the players and fans and staff and to get three wins made it worth it.”
They beat Southeastern Louisiana, 6-1 in the first match of the day.
The Tigers swept all three doubles matches against SLU. Doubles were not played in the last two matches.
Colt Gaston and Peter Richman picked up quick singles wins on courts six and four. Jason Hazley clinched the team victory with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Julian Lousao on court two. Danny Bryan followed with a win on court four.
LSU’s No. 1 singles player, Ken Skupski, narrowly avoided an upset by Olivier Nussbaum. They split the first two sets and Nussbaum led, 8-4 in the tiebreaker set. Skupski won five consecutive points and outlasted Nussbaum to earn a 2-6, 6-4 (14-12) win.
Mark Growcott had LSU’s only loss, a tiebreaker to Haris Hurmeovic on court three.
It took just over an hour for LSU to complete its 6-0 win over Centenary. William LeFevre, Jonathan Tragardh and Martel Campbell picked up their first wins as Tigers. All of LSU’s wins came in straight sets.
It was more of the same in the Southern match, where LSU blanked its opponent again, 6-0.
“It was good to see some of the new guys on the court and to see the old ones get going,” Brown said.
The Tigers return to action Thursday against New Orleans at 2 p.m.
#12 LSU 6, Southeastern Louisiana 1
Singles competition:
1. #12 Ken Skupski (LSU) def. Olivier Nussbaum (SLU) 2-6, 6-4 (14-12), 14-12
2. #87 Jason Hazley (LSU) def. Julien Lousao (SLU) 6-2, 6-1
3. Haris Huremovic (SLU) def. Mark Growcott (LSU) 6-7, 7-5, 10-1
4. Peter Richman (LSU) def. Ondrej Krivka (SLU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Jaroslav Trojan (SLU) 6-1, 7-5
6. Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Illie Babinciuc (SLU) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles competition:
1. #13 Ken Skupski/Mark Growcott (LSU) def. Haris Huremovic/Olivier Nussbaum (SLU) 8-2
2. #34 Jason Hazley/Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Ondrej Krivka/Jaroslav Trojan (SLU) 8-6
3. Colt Gaston/Jonathan Tragardh (LSU) def. Illie Babinciuc/Julien Lousao (SLU) 9-7
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (6,4,2,5,1,3)
Clinchers: Doubles (2) Singles (2)
#12 LSU 6, Centenary 0
Singles competition:
1. Peter Richman (LSU) def. Brian Roberts (CEN) 6-0, 6-1
2. Paul White (LSU) def. Russ Patrick (CEN) 6-1, 6-0
3. Jonathan Tragardh (LSU) def. Josh Pinto (CEN) 6-2, 6-2
4. Kevin Dessauer (LSU) def. Arthur Okura (CEN) 6-2, 6-3
5. Martel Campbell (LSU) def. Andrew Barkley (CEN) 6-0, 6-0
6. William LeFevre (LSU) def. Abram Darzutzer (CEN) 6-0, 6-0
Order of finish: Singles (5,1,6,2,3,4)
Clincher: (2)
LSU 6, Southern 0
Singles competition:
1. #87 Jason Hazley (LSU) def. David Ensignia (SU) 6-2, 6-0
2. Martel Campbell (LSU) def. Gregory Pipkins (SU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
3. Peter Richman (LSU) def. Alex Hidalgo (SU) 6-2, 6-1
4. William LeFevre (LSU) def. Justin Worthy (SU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Paul White (LSU) def. Michael Date (SU) 6-3, 6-2
6. Kevin Dessauer (LSU) def. Christopher Williams (SU) 6-1, 6-1
Order of finish: Singles (6,5,4,3,1,2)
Clincher: (2)