KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Yet another tight match refused to go LSU’s way Sunday as No. 21 Tennessee handed them a 4-3 loss to close out a long weekend of Southeastern Conference play for the No. 17 Tigers.
The match against Tennessee (8-2, 4-0 SEC) concluded a brutal road stretch for LSU (10-5, 0-4 SEC) that lasted more than a month and included six matches against top-25 teams.
“We fought back today,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “We scratched our way back into it. At one point looked like we would have a chance in four matches, but we didn’t quite get it.”
The Tigers were shut out of the doubles point for the first time this season despite three extremely tight matches. LSU duos lost 9-8 on courts one and two and 8-6 on three.
The Tigers continued to struggle on singles court six, where Tennessee’s Kaden Hensel beat Colt Gaston in straight sets. LSU’s Mark Growcott lost to No. 43 Mark Dietrich, 6-3, 6-3, in just his second match on court one to give Tennessee a 3-0 lead early.
Despite the deficit, the match was still within reach for LSU. The four remaining singles matches all went to a second set. Danny Bryan trailed in his second set but did not allow Kiril Tcherveniachki to clinch for the Vols. Bryan won a second set tiebreaker and went on to win the match, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1.
Jason Hazley split sets with Ockie Oosthuizen on court four but could not hang on through the third. Oosthuizen clinched the match for Tennessee.
Peter Richman won for the second consecutive match on court two, 6-2, 6-7, 6-1, over Morgan Wilson. Tiebreakers in both the first and third sets went Ken Skupski’s way to give him his first singles win in conference play over Ben Rogers on court two.
“We’re excited to get back home and use these losses as motivation, Brown said.
LSU will finally return home with a match next Thursday at 2 p.m. against South Florida. They play their next four matches in Baton Rouge at W.T. Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“Playing four matches on the road to start SEC’s is a tough assignment,” Brown said. “We’ve seen how tough it can be on the road. We want to make it just as tough for the teams that come to Baton Rouge.”
No. 21 Tennessee 4 No. 17 LSU 3
Singles
1) No. 43 Mark Dietrich (UT) def. Mark Growcott (LSU) 6-3, 6-3
2) No. 10 Ken Skupski (LSU) def. Bobby Cameron (UT) 7-6, 4-6, 7-6
3) Peter Richman (LSU) def. Morgan Wilson (UT) 6-2, 6-7, 6-1
4) Ockie Oosthuizen (UT) def. No. 99 Jason Hazley (LSU) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
5) Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Kiril Tcherveniachki (UT) 5-7, 7-6, 6-1
6) Kaden Hensel (UT) def. Colt Gaston (LSU) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles
1) No. 8 Oosthuizen/Rogers (UT) def. No. 6 Growcott/Skupski (LSU) 9-8
2) Dietrich/Wilson (UT) def. Bryan/Hazley (LSU) 9-8
3) Cameron/Hensel (UT) def. Richman/White (LSU) 8-6