BATON ROUGE — LSU again dominated its opponent Sunday, beating Alabama, 5-2 to earn their third consecutive win.
The Tigers (15-7, 4-6 SEC) kept their third place standing in the Southeastern Conference Western Division with one conference match left in the regular season.
“It’s good that we’ve got the momentum at this time of year,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “Tournaments are coming up and more and more people are getting on board as far as playing a complete team match.”
LSU swept the doubles point to take an early lead. LSU’s Peter Richman and Jason Hazley won on court three, then Ken Skupski and Mark Growcott clinched the point with an 8-6 win on court one.
LSU’s 37th-ranked pair of Danny Bryan and Colt Gaston beat Joseph Jung and Andrew Felsenthal, 8-4 after falling behind 4-1 to begin the match.
LSU won first sets on four courts in singles. Gaston was the first off with a win on six over Sammy Struyf. Hazley followed with a win on court three over Eric Molnar.
Richman clinched on four, beating Javier Bes, 6-2, 6-3. Danny Bryan iced the win with a victory on court five over Billy Mertz.
LSU led 5-0 before Alabama got their first team point with a win by Luigi D’Agord over Skupski on court two. No. 86 Joseph Jung added another point on court one for the Crimson Tide when he beat Growcott.
“They guys who are losing now are not losing because of a lack of effort,” Brown said. “They are just tough facing tough competition.”
LSU will play its third match in six days Wednesday when they host in-state rival Tulane. Their last regular season home match is next Saturday against Arkansas.
“We’re looking forward to having a big crowd for the Tulane match,” Brown said.
#16 LSU 5, #74 Alabama 2
Singles competition:
1. #86 Joseph Jung (ALA) def. #61 Mark Growcott (LSU) 6-4, 6-4
2. #110 Luigi D’Agord (ALA) def. #20 Ken Skupski (LSU) 6-3, 6-4
3. Jason Hazley (LSU) def. Eric Molnar (ALA) 6-1, 6-1
4. Peter Richman (LSU) def. Javier Bes (ALA) 6-3, 6-2
5. Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Billy Mertz (ALA) 6-2, 6-4
6. Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Sammy Struyf (ALA) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles competition:
1. #7 Mark Growcott/Ken Skupski (LSU) def. Luigi D’Agord/Eric Molnar (ALA) 8-6
2. #39 Danny Bryan/Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Sammy Struyf/Javier Bes (ALA) 8-4
3. Peter Richman/Jason Hazley (LSU) def. Joseph Jung/Andrew Felsenthal (ALA) 8-6
Match Notes:
Alabama 7-14, 0-10 SEC; National ranking #74
LSU 16-7, 4-6 SEC; National ranking #16
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,3,4,2,5,1)
Doubles: (1), Singles (4)