BATON ROUGE — LSU lost a heartbreaker Friday when Kentucky’s Nate Emge clinched the win for his team in a nearly four-hour battle with Jason Hazley on court four.
Hazley overcame a 5-1 deficit in the first set to win that, and then fell in a long second set. Emge broke his serve twice late in the third set to win the match, 6-7 (8-10), 7-5, 6-2.
The five other singles matches were finished before Hazley and Emge completed their first set. The match sat at a 3-3 deadlock for two hours before the clinch.
“We knew there was a narrow margin for error coming into the match,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown.
With the loss, No. 16 LSU moves to 12-6 and 0-5 in the SEC. Kentucky moves to 12-6 and 2-3.
LSU won the doubles point. The Tigers’ 37th-ranked pair of Danny Bryan and Colt Gaston won their third match in a row on court two. No. 6 Ken Skupski and Mark Growcott pulled away late from Kentucky’s 21st-ranked Jesse Witten and Tigran Martirosyan on court one to clinch the doubles point for LSU.
The doubles match on court three was suspended.
In singles, Growcott earned his third consecutive straight-set win to improve LSU’s lead to 2-0. Growcott, ranked 84th in singles, has not lost a match yet this year at No. 2 singles.
Jesse Witten, Kentuky’s fourth-ranked All-American, got his team on the board with a 6-1, 6-4 win on court one over Skupski.
Bryan responded for the Tigers with a 6-4, 6-2 win on court five, his fourth victory in a row. Alex Hume kept the Wildcats alive with a 6-2, 6-2 win on court four over Peter Richman.
Marcus Sundh tied the match on court six with a 6-4, 6-4 win over LSU’s Paul White.
“Where we hurt ourselves was losing three straight-setters at home,” Brown said. “We’ve got to do a better job on Sunday of capitalizing on our home-court advantage.”
LSU will try for its first conference win Sunday at noon when they host Vanderbilt.
#30 Kentucky 4, #16 LSU 3
Singles competition:
1. #4 Jesse Witten (KEN) def. #12 Ken Skupski (LSU) 6-1, 6-4
2. #84 Mark Growcott (LSU) def. Matt Emery (KEN) 6-2, 6-1
3. Nate Emge (KEN) def. #83 Jason Hazley (LSU) 6-7 (8-10), 7-5, 6-2
4. Alex Hume (KEN) def. Peter Richman (LSU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Tigran Martirosyan (KEN) 6-4, 6-2
6. Marcus Sundh (KEN) def. Paul White (LSU) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles competition:
1. #6 Ken Skupski/Mark Growcott (LSU) def. #21 Jesse Witten/Tigran Martirosyan (KEN) 8-4
2. #37 Colt Gaston/Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Matt Emery/Marcus Sundh (KEN) 8-4
3. Jason Hazley/Peter Richman (LSU) vs. Alex Hume/Nate Emge (KEN) 4-5, unfinished
Match Notes:
Kentucky 12-6, 2-3; National ranking #30
LSU 12-6, 0-5; National ranking #16
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (2,1,5,4,6)
Clinchers: Doubles (1), Singles (3)
Official: Richie Weaver