SEATTLE — Despite an incredible rally the LSU men’s tennis team was unable to pull out its opening round match at the ITA National Indoor Championships, falling to seventh-seeded UCLA 4-2.
After dropping the doubles point, LSU lost the first set on five of the six singles courts. UCLA quickly took a 3-0 lead with wins on the No. 1 and No. 4 singles court.
On the No. 1 court, the Bruin’s third-ranked Ben Kohlloeffel snapped Ken Skupski‘s 15 match winning streak, putting the LSU junior away 6-1, 6-4. UCLA’s Chris Surapol also picked up a straight set win, besting Paul White 6-4, 6-1.
With their backs against the wall LSU rallied picking up two wins and forcing the final two singles matches into third sets.
“We looked like we were finished,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “We just kept hanging around and all of a sudden we found ourselves in position to come back and win the match.”
LSU’s No. 3 singles player Colt Gaston scored the Tigers’ first point, overwhelming 75th-ranked Mathieu Dehaine in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.
On court 6 James Cluskey extended the rally. The LSU freshman battled back after loosing the first set to Mike Look 4-6 to win each of the next two sets 6-4.
UCLA’s Mohamed Abid was finally able to close out his match with LSU’s Mark Growcott on court two and clinch the win for the Bruins. Growcott dropped his first set to Abid 6-2 but fought back to win the second set 7-6 in a tiebreaker. Set three came down to a tiebreaker as well, but Growcott was just unable to pull it out.
“Their guys were able to make the shots they had to make,” said Brown. “We proved to ourselves that we can play with this team and now we need to go out and play a complete match.”
The Tigers will now face the tournament’s No. 15 seed Colorado at 4:30 CST at the Seattle Tennis Club. The Buffalos were swept 4-0 Friday in their opening round match with Georgia.
“We’re looking to get out there tomorrow and put to use what we showed today,” said Brown. “It’s time for us to get back on the winning track.
ITA National Indoor Championship
Seattle Tennis Club
UCLA 4, LSU 2
Singles
1. (3) Ben Kohlloeffel def. Ken Skupski (LSU) 6-1, 6-4
2. Mohamed Abid def. Mark Growcott 6-2, 6-7, 7-6
3. Colt Gaston (LSU) def. (75) Mathieu Dehaine (UCLA) 6-1, 6-2
4. Chris Surapol (UCLA) def. Paul White (LSU) 6-4, 6-1
5. Philipp Greundler vs. Danny Bryan 6-2, 7-6 (6), 5-2 Unfinished
6. James Cluskey (LSU) def. Mike Look (UCLA) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles
1. Kohlloeffel/Gruendler (UCLA) def. Skupski/Growcott (LSU) 8-4
2. Bryan/Gaston (LSU) def. Abid/Surapol (UCLA) 8-5
3. Dehaine/Yovan (UCLA) def. Cluskey/White (LSU) 8-5