PALO ALTO, Calif. — LSU’s Ken Skupski overcame a back injury to team up with doubles partner Mark Growcott, as the Tiger tandem defeated Utah’s Nick Coutts and Zach Ganger 7-6 (3), 6-3 Thursday at the NCAA Championships at Stanford’s Taube Family Tennis Center.
This is the second straight year that Growcott and Skupski have advanced to the NCAA round of 16 doubles play. The win is the sixth for the Tigers duo in NCAA doubles tournament play and it increases their record for the year to 23-7.
“Ken received some treatment after his singles match, which made his back spasms calm down allowing him to compete at the level that he did,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “Mark really stepped his game up as well.”
The Tigers and Utes had a heated battle in the opening set with no team taking more then a one game lead sending the first set into a tiebreaker with the score tied at 6-6.
The Tigers raced out to a 4-1 lead in the tiebreaker but the Utes chipped away at the lead to narrow the gap to a 4-3 deficit.
The Utes did not notch another point as the Tigers came out with a 7-3 tiebreaker victory and 7-6 first-set victory.
The Tigers continued their strong play in the second set as they jumped out to a 3-1 lead. However, The Utes fought their way back into the match notching two out of the next three games. But Growcott and Skupski were too much for their opponents as the Tigers outlasted the Utes taking the second set and the match, 6-3.
The Tigers will play Pepperdine’s Scott Doerner and Andre Begemann Friday at 7 p.m. (CST). Pepperdine won the team portion of the tournament Tuesday.
“Pepperdine has really played well towards the end of the year and that showed in the team portion” Brown said. “But Ken and Mark have faced strong teams before and had success, so it should be a good match.”
LSU’s winningest doubles team of 2006, Colt Gaston and Danny Bryan did not make it into the tournament. The duo was the No. 2 alternate going into doubles play.