BATON ROUGE — The No. 15-ranked LSU men’s tennis team defeated its conference rival Kentucky, 6-1, Friday afternoon at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
The Tigers (8-2, 2-1 SEC) won the doubles point and clinched the first three singles matches to capture the win over the Wildcats (7-6, 1-2 SEC.)
“I thought we played well and getting the doubles point put ourselves in great position to win the match,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “It was great to take five out of the six singles matches. We weren’t able to close some of the matches as I would have liked, but I am still pleased with the win.”
“The crowd was very enthusiastic and did a great job today. They had a lot of LSU athletes in the stands cheering which was nice to see.”
Kevin Dessauer and Jan Zelezny put the Tigers ahead in doubles by defeating Kentucky’s Roman Ogarkov and Marcus Sundh, 8-3.
Danny Bryan and Colt Gaston cruised in their match against Kentucky’s Bruno Agostinelli and Kenny Hodge, 8-3, to clinch the doubles point for the Tigers. The win improves Tiger tandem’s record to 11-1 on the season.
The Tigers have won the doubles point eight of their ten matches.
The toughest battle came on court three where LSU’s James Cluskey and Ken Skupski faced Kentucky’s Peter Bjork and Will Ward. The duos went back and forth for most of the match before the Kentucky duo pulled away in the end to upset the No. 5 ranked LSU duo, 8-6.
In singles, sophomore Cluskey gave the Tigers a 2-0 edge by defeating Hodge, 6-2, 6-0. Dessauer also won in straight sets by defeating Marcus Sundh, 6-3, 6-1. The New Orleans native’s record improves to 16-6.
Gaston clinched the match for LSU by knocking off Peter Bjork, 6-1, 7-5.
Even with the match in hand, the Tigers continued their relentless attack. Co-captain Skupski captured the 96th win of his career against Bruno Agostinelli. The win places the two-time All-American tied with former Tigers Teddy Viator and Michael Wesbrooks for 6th on the LSU career singles win list.
Jan Zelezny captured a three-set victory against Shane Collins, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-1.
Kentucky rallied in their final match to prevent the sweep as Will Ward defeated Danny Bryan in a three set tiebreaker, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (5.)
The Tigers dedicated the win to a fallen fan. David Adler was killed this past weekend in a motorcycle accident. Given the nickname ?Super Dave’ by LSU tennis players, Adler was a regular at both men’s and women’s tennis matches for the past 15 years. He was well known around the conference for the enthusiasm and spirit he brought to every match. LSU players and coaching staff placed a patch with Adler’s initials ?DA’ on the side of their shirts and held a moment of silence before singles play to commemorate their fallen friend.
“Dave was someone you could always count on to be at the match,” co-captain Skupski said. “The team was really hurt by his loss. As soon as we heard the news we knew we had to do something. Even though he has passed, we still felt like we heard his cheers in today’s match.”
The Tigers return to the courts Sunday when they take on Vanderbilt at noon.
# 15 LSU 6, #47 Kentucky 1
March 9, 2007 at Baton Rouge, La.
Singles competition:
1. #21 Ken Skupski (LSU) def. #68 Bruno Agostinelli (UK), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5)
2. Will Ward (UK) def. #37 Danny Bryan (LSU), 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (5)
3. Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Peter Bjork (UK), 6-1, 7-5
4. #86 Kevin Dessauer (LSU) def. Marcus Sundh (UK), 6-3, 6-1
5. James Cluskey (LSU) def. Kenny Hodge (UK), 6-2, 6-0
6. Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Shane Collins (UK), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1
Doubles competition:
1. #9 Danny Bryan/Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Bruno Agostinelli/Kenny Hodge (UK), 8-3
2. Peter Bjork/Will Ward (UK) def. #5 James Cluskey/Ken Skupski (LSU), 8-6
3. Kevin Dessauer/Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Marcus Sundh/Roman Ogarkov (UK), 8-3
# – national rankings
Match notes:
Order of finish: Doubles: (3, 1, 2); Singles: (5, 4, 3, 1, 6, 2)