TULSA, Okla. — The LSU men’s tennis team finished with one victory and one defeat, in the first round of qualifying, at the Polo Ralph Lauren ITA All-American Championships, Monday.
Danny Bryan won his match to advance to round two of qualifying, on Tuesday. Bryan defeated Northwestern’s Willy Lock in straight sets, 7-6 (4), 6-4, while the Tigers’ Colt Gaston was edged out by Louisville’s Jakob Gustafsson, in three sets, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (1), 7-5.
“Both Colt and Danny played well today,” said associate head coach Mark Booras. “There are good players here and they raised their game to the level of the competition. Danny prevailed and unfortunately Colt couldn’t quite pull it out.”
Bryan will move on to face, the ITA’s No. 53 ranked singles player, Jonathan Stokke, of Duke, at 8 a.m. Gaston will have the chance to play a consolation match to be announced later.
“Both of them will have a chance to raise their level of play again tomorrow,” said Booras. “Stokke is a great player and will be a real test for Danny.”
If successful on Tuesday, Bryan will move to the third round of qualifying on Wednesday. He will team up with Gaston on Thursday to play in the main draw doubles tournament. The pair, ranked No. 27 in the nation, was exempted from doubles qualifying.
Also playing Thursday will be the LSU doubles team of Ken Skupski and Mark Growcott. They are the nation’s No. 1 ranked doubles team, in addition to being ranked No. 17 and No. 27, in singles, respectively. Skupski and Growcott received qualifying byes in both doubles and singles.
Polo Ralph Lauren ITA All-American Championships
Qualifying
Round One
Monday Oct. 3, 2005
Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Willy Lock (Northwestern) 7-6(4), 6-4
Jakob Gustafsson (Louisville) def. Colt Gaston (LSU) 7-6(2), 6-7(1), 7-5