BATON ROUGE — The No. 13-ranked LSU men’s tennis team suffered its first home loss of the season, dropping a hard fought 4-3 match to 22nd-ranked Clemson on Thursday at W. T. Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“This was a dangerous team we faced today,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “They’re a tough team to get points off of, but we knew that coming in and we didn’t do what it took to get the job done.”
LSU now falls to 7-3 on the season, while the win moves Clemson’s record to 11-2.
The Tigers were able to gain an early advantage when they captured the doubles point, besting Clemson on all three courts.
No. 28-ranked doubles pair Danny Bryan and Colt Gaston started LSU off, beating Clemson’s Sandor Koning and Clement Reix 8-4 on court No. 2. The Tigers secured the doubles point with a win from Paul White and James Cluskey, who downed Brette Twente and Kevin Fleck, 8-4, on court three.
With the doubles point clinched, the match on court one went into an automatic tiebreaker. 10th-ranked Mark Growcott and Ken Skupski were tied with Clemson’s duo of Jermaine Jenkins and Ryan Young, 7-7, but managed to pull out the tiebreaker 7-4 and give LSU the doubles sweep.
Despite the initial advantage LSU was unable to capitalize on the singles courts.
On court three LSU’s Gaston took the first set from Jenkins, 7-6 (4). However, down 3-0 in set two and Gaston was forced to withdraw.
Gaston’s default evened the score at 1-1, but LSU regained the lead when Skupski finished off Koning, 7-5, 6-2, on court one.
Clemson answered with straight set wins on courts two and six, to go up 3-2.
LSU evened the score again with Danny Bryan‘s, 6-3, 6-3, win over Clint Boling on court No. 5.
With the match knotted 3-3, the decision came down to the outcome on court four. After losing his first set 6-2 and down 5-1 in the second, White fought Clemson’s Twente back to 5-4. However, White was unable to force a third set and Twente clinched the win for Clemson.
“I think we need to be a lot tougher at home,” said Brown. “Straight set losses at home are unacceptable and we had three of them.”
The Tigers must now regroup quickly, as the team will head to Fort Worth, Texas for a match with 32nd-ranked TCU on Sunday.
Clemson vs. LSU
Feb 23, 2006 at Baton Rouge, La.
#22 Clemson 4, #13 LSU 3
Singles competition
1. #20 Ken Skupski (LSU) def. Sander Koning (CLEM) 7-5, 6-2
2. #100 Clement Reix (CLEM) def. Mark Growcott (LSU) 6-4, 6-4
3. Jermaine Jenkins (CLEM) def. Colt Gaston (LSU) 6-7 (4-7), 3-0, 99-0
4. Ryan Young (CLEM) def. Paul White (LSU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Clint Boling (CLEM) 6-3, 6-3
6. Brette Twente (CLEM) def. James Cluskey (LSU) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #17 Mark Growcott/Ken Skupski (LSU) def. Jermaine Jenkins/Ryan Young (CLEM) 8-7 (7-4)
2. #28 Danny Bryan/Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Sander Koning/Clement Reix (CLEM) 8-4
3. Paul White/James Cluskey (LSU) def. Brette Twente/Kevin Fleck (CLEM) 8-4
Match Notes:
Clemson 11-2; National ranking #22
LSU 7-3; National ranking #13