BATON ROUGE — The No. 15-ranked LSU men’s tennis team picked up its second straight 6-1 victory on Sunday afternoon as it defeated the No. 32-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
The Tigers (9-2, 3-1 SEC) swept doubles play and took five out of six singles matches to knock off the Commodores (7-6, 2-2 SEC.)
“The match set up well again with our strong doubles play,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “Danny Bryan and Colt Gaston pulled away from a good team early on. On court two and three we were able to finish strong. Singles was a continuation of that. On five of the courts we got off to greats starts especially with the four guys who won in straight sets.”
“The Tigers won the first two matches to claim the doubles point. Bryan and Gaston striked first for the Tigers by knocking off Evan Dufaux and Ryan Preston, 8-1. The Tiger tandem has won 23 out of their last 24 matches.
Ten minutes later the Tigers clinched the doubles point when James Cluskey and Ken Skupski defeated Jordan Magarik and Andy Mack, 8-3. The Tigers have won the doubles point in nine out of their eleven matches.
For court three’s match, both teams agreed to play a 7-point tiebreaker to decide the match after the score reached 6-all. The Tigers finished the sweep as Kevin Dessauer and Jan Zelezny outlasted Vijay Paul and Nathan Sachs, 7-6 (5).
LSU extended its lead to 2-0 when sophomore James Cluskey held off Nathan Sachs in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. The Dublin, Ireland native has won three straight matches.
Junior Colt Gaston gave the Tigers a 3-0 edge by defeating Evan Dufaux, 6-4, 6-3.
Senior Ken Skupski picked up the 97th win of his career to clinch the match for the Tigers, when he cruised in straight sets against No. 32-ranked Ryan Preston, 6-3, 6-3. This is the second-straight year Skupski has clinched the match against Vanderbilt.
The Commodores were able to capture a win on court four before the Tigers put the finishing touches on their win by winning on court six and four.
LSU will go on the road for its next match Friday when it travels to No. 35 Texas A&M at 1 p.m. in College Station.
#15 LSU 6, #32 Vanderbilt 1
March 11, 2007 at Baton Rouge, La.
Singles competition:
1. #21 Ken Skupski (LSU) def. #32 Ryan Preston (VANDY), 6-3, 6-3
2. #37 Danny Bryan (LSU def. Nick Cromydas (VANDY), 6-4, 4-6, 11-9
3. Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Evan Dufaux (VANDY), 6-4, 6-3
4. Vijay Paul (VANDY) def. #86 Kevin Dessauer (LSU), 6-2, 6-4
5. James Cluskey (LSU) def. Nathan Sachs (VANDY), 6-1, 6-4
6. Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Andy Mack (VANDY), 7-6 (7), 6-3
Doubles competition:
1. #9 Danny Bryan/Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Evan Dufaux/Ryan Preston (VANDY), 8-1
2. #5 James Cluskey/Ken Skupski (LSU) def. Jordan Magarik/Andy Mack (VANDY), 8-3
3. Kevin Dessauer/Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Vijay Paul/Nathan Sachs (VANDY), 7-6 (5)
# – national rankings
Match notes:
Order of finish: Doubles: (1, 2, 3); Singles: (5, 3, 1, 4, 6, 2)
For court three’s match, both teams agreed to play a 7-point tiebreaker to decide the match after the score reached 6-all.