BATON ROUGE — Following a two hour rain delay LSU and Texas A&M’s men’s tennis teams finally took the court Thursday at W. T. Robinson Tennis Stadium, but the weather claimed the final victory.
After the courts dried, the teams were able to begin play at 4 p.m. With a high chance for continued rain, LSU head coach Jeff Brown and Texas A&M head coach Tim Cass agreed to play the singles competition first in hopes of finishing the match sooner.
Texas A&M’s 25th-ranked Jerry Makowski topped LSU’s No. 1 singles player Ken Skupski, 6-1, 6-4, on court one.
The Tigers picked up two points with wins by Mark Growcott and freshman James Cluskey. Growcott won, 6-4, 6-4, on the No. 3 singles court, while Cluskey dropped Brett Joelson, 6-3, 6-4, on court No. 5.
The Aggies battled back, picking up win on courts four and six and taking a, 3-2, match lead.
The responsibility of tying the match and sending it to doubles play fell on the shoulders of LSU sophomore Colt Gaston. Gaston took the first set from Bryan Wooten, 6-4, but dropped the second, 4-6. With Wooten up, 3-2, in the third set the rain began to fall again, killing any hopes finishing play.
A makeup date for the match may be scheduled for late April and will be announced.
The Tigers will play another non-conference match Monday when they take on UL-Lafayette at 2 p.m.
LSU 2, Texas A&M 3
1. Jerry Makowski Texas A&M def. Ken Skupski 6-1, 6-4
2. Colt Gaston vs. Bryan Wooten 6-4, 4-6
3. Mark Growcott def. John Nallon 7-6, 6-3
4. Connor Pollock Texas A&M def. Danny Bryan 3-6, 7-5
5. James Cluskey def. Brett Joelson 6-3, 6-4
6. Matt Bain Texas A&M def. Paul White 6-4, 6-2