COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The LSU men’s tennis team (10-1) got its biggest win of the season Saturday when they knocked off ninth-ranked Texas A&M (3-1), 4-1.
“That was a strong match,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We went indoors so we were only playing on three courts. Texas A&M is already one of the tougher places to come out with a win.”
The No. 10 Tigers used a pair of wins on courts two and three to earn the doubles point. Singles wins by Mark Growcott and Jason Hazley on courts two and three extended the lead. Peter Richman’s second set tiebreaker win over Mohamed Dakki to clinched the match for LSU on court four.
“The doubles was a great momentum starter,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “Mark and our two seniors stepped up in singles for us today. It was a complete team effort.”
Growcott went three sets on court two with Ante Matijevic, a former top ten singles player. The win was his eighth in a row. Hazley beat 81st-ranked Yevgeny Supeko in straight sets.
Fifth-ranked Ken Skupski had LSU’s only loss of the day on court one. He fell in three sets to Jerry Makowski, ending a 13-match win streak that dated back to November.
Singles matches on courts five and six were ended when Richman clinched the match.
The win came in LSU’s last match before it begins SEC play next weekend at Florida and South Carolina. It was also the first time in Brown’s eight years as head coach that his team won at College Station.
“That win is going to hold up for a long time,” Brown said. “We’re going into SEC’s having won on the road in an extremely hostile environment.”
#10 LSU 4, #9 Texas A&M 1
Doubles Competition:
Brett Joelson/Ante Matijevic (TAMU) vs. #4 Mark Growcott/Ken Skupski (LSU), 6-7, dnf.
#37 Jason Hazley/Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Jerry Makowski/Zack Malmgren (TAMU), 8-4
Peter Richman/Paul White (LSU) def. Matt Bain/Bryan Wooten (TAMU), 8-3.
Singles Competition
#34 Jerry Makowski (TAMU) def. #5 Ken Skupski (LSU, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 0-6
Mark Growcott (LSU) def. Ante Matijevic (TAMU), 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (2)
#96 Jason Hazley (LSU) def. #81 Yevgeny Supeko (TAMU), 6-3, 6-2
Peter Richman (LSU) def. Mohamed Dakki (TAMU), 6-2, 7-6 (8)
Danny Bryan (LSU) vs. Bryan Wooten (TAMU), 6-3, 2-5, dnf.
Paul White (LSU) vs. Brett Joelson (TAMU), 0-6, 3-4, dnf.