HOUSTON — The LSU men’s tennis team completed a successful opening weekend of action as they notched four bracket titles at the Courtyard by Marriot/Rice Invitational.
“I am really proud of our team’s performance today,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We wanted to get some good experience and we did that.”
Martel Campbell and Eric DeRoche were the first to notch a bracket title by defeating Rice’s Jon Greenberg and Fillip Zivojinovic, 8-3, to take the doubles C bracket titles.
In the A bracket Danny Bryan and Kevin Dessauer struggled in their match, falling to Diego Camacho and Ross Cunningham of Tulsa, 8-5.
The A bracket did not fair well for either Tiger tandem as James Cluskey and Jan Zelezny dropped their matched against Rice’s Jason Mok and Christoph M?ller, 8-5.
In singles play, Danny Bryan rebounded from a first set loss to win his match in the A bracket over Chistoph M?ller of Rice, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Jan Zelezny spilt his first two sets against Tulsa’s Will Gray before falling in the third, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1. Zelezny finished fourth in the A bracket.
Two Tigers went head to head in the B bracket, as Cluskey and Dessauer faced one another. Dessauer took the first set but struggled from there on due to injury. Dessauer was forced to retire from the match in the third set, 3-6, 6-3, 3-0, giving Cluskey the bracket title.
Martel Campbell captured his second title of the tournament, as he knocked off Lucques Maasdrorp of Tulsa, 6-4, 6-4.
“Martel showed great improvement from a year ago,” Brown commented. “Winning both of his brackets should give him a huge boost of confidence.”
Eric DeRoche rebounded from his semi-final loss to defeat Tulsa’s Olof Sjolund, 6-3, 6-4, in the consolation round of the C bracket. The River Ridge native finished third in his bracket.
The next action for the Tigers will be Sept.22 in the opening rounds of the USTA Futures in Irvine, Calif.
Courtyard by Marriott/Rice Invitational
Day Three Results
Flight A Doubles
Camacho/Cunningham (Tulsa) def. Bryan/Dessauer (LSU), 8-5
Mok/M?ller (Rice) def. Zelezny/Cluskey (LSU), 8-5
Flight B Doubles
DeRoche/Campbell (LSU) def. Greenberg/Zivojinovic (Rice), 8-3
Flight A Singles
#101 Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Chistoph M?ller (Rice), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Will Gray (Tulsa) def. Jan Zelezny (LSU), 5-7, 7-5, 6-1
Flight B Singles
James Cluskey (LSU) def. Kevin Dessauer (LSU) 3-6, 6-3, 3-0 (retired)
Flight C Singles
Martel Campbell (LSU) def. Lucques Maasdorp (Tulsa), 6-3, 6-4
Eric DeRoche (LSU) def. Olof Sjolund (Tulsa), 6-3, 6-4