BATON ROUGE — The No. 20 ranked LSU men’s tennis team defeated UL-Lafayette, 7-0, Saturday afternoon at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium for its fourth-straight victory.
The Tigers (4-0) have not lost a singles or doubles match during the dual season. Additionally, the Tigers have won all 43 singles sets that finished during their four matches.
“I thought we played well today,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “There are a few things we need to work on. We did a good job of catching the early momentum in singles. We also took care of a couple lineup mismatches today.”
In doubles, the LSU duo of Danny Bryan and Colt Gaston cruised to an 8-1 victory over Piotrek Banas and Shaun Ellison. The No. 3 ranked team of James Cluskey and Ken Skupski fought back from an early deficit against Janusz Conradi and Jorge Delgado to take the match and clinch the doubles point for the Tigers. Kevin Dessauer and Jan Zelezny also picked up an 8-5 victory by defeating Arlen Deomoney and Dusan Tabak to complete the doubles sweep.
In singles, Cluskey striked first for the Tigers, when he breezed past Zack Taylor, 6-1, 6-0.
Skupski claimed his 94th win of his career by defeating Piotrek Banas, 6-0, 6-4. The win clinched the match for the Tigers and places him tied with former Tiger Mark Shoptaugh for eight all-time. The two-time All-American has compiled a 14-5 record this season.
LSU’s singles set winning streak was threatened on court two and five where Danny Bryan and Jan Zelezny were both taken to tiebreakers in their second set. Both Tigers would not be denied as they won their tiebreakers to keep the winning streak alive.
The Tigers will be back in action on Fat Tuesday, Feb. 20, when they face Rice at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“Rice is as good as any team that we will face this year,” Brown commented. “They have no holes in their lineup. We have been pointing to the Rice and Ohio State matches, two of the best teams in the nation, to help us prepare for conference play. Hopefully with Tuesday being a holiday we can get a nice crowd to come out and support us.”
#20 LSU 7, #60 UL-Lafayette 0
February 17, 2007 at Baton Rouge, La.
Singles competition:
1. #9 Ken Skupski (LSU) def. Piotrek Banas (UL), 6-0, 6-4
2. #68 Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Dusan Tabak (UL), 6-2, 7-6 (4)
3. Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Shaun Ellison (UL), 6-4, 6-2
4. Kevin Dessauer (LSU) def. Jorge Delgado (UL), 6-1, 6-1
5. Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Janusz Conradi (UL), 6-2, 7-6 (1)
6. James Cluskey (LSU) def. Zack Taylor (UL), 6-1, 6-0
Doubles competition:
1. #3 James Cluskey/Ken Skupski (LSU) def. Janusz Conradi/Jorge Delgado (UL), 8-5
2. Danny Bryan/Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Piotrek Banas/Shaun Ellison (UL), 8-13. Kevin Dessauer/Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Arlen Domoney/Dusan Tabak (UL), 8-5
# – national ranking
Order of finish:
Singles: 6, 4, 1, 3, 5, 2
Doubles: 2, 1, 3,