BATON ROUGE — The No. 12-ranked LSU men’s tennis team finished the regular season on a high note as they defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks, 5-2, Saturday afternoon at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
The Tigers (15-5, 7-4 SEC) will have to wait to find out where they will be seeded in next week’s Southeastern Conference Championships, which will be held at Robinson Tennis Stadium. If the Tigers finish the season in the top four of the conference standings they will receive a bye in the tournament. Georgia and Ole Miss have secured the top two seeds, while LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Tennessee are in contention for the third and fourth seed. The Razorbacks (7-21, 0-11 SEC) will enter the tournament as the 12th seed.
LSU head coach Jeff Brown was proud of his team’s finish to the regular season, especially the three seniors ? Danny Bryan, Eric DeRoche and Ken Skupski.
“Our team came out with a sense of urgency in doubles and at the beginning of singles,” Brown said. “We wanted the seniors to go out with a strong performance. It was great to get Eric some experience before we head into the postseason. We know he is very dependable, because of his work ethic and intensity. Danny played one of his best matches of the year today. Being that Ken plays at the one spot, he ran into a tough match today but he is determined to take this team far in postseason.”
The Tigers swept the doubles portion for the 9th time this season. Additionally, it marks the 16th time out of their 20 matches that the Tigers have won the doubles point. The duos of Bryan and Colt Gaston, and James Cluskey and Skupski both picked up their 20th win of the season. Bryan and Gaston defeated Colin Mascall and Blake Strode, 8-6. Cluskey and Skupski shut down Gabriel Mattos and Bradwin Williams, 8-5. The win pushes the Tiger tandem’s winning streak to five matches.
In singles, Zelezny quickly extended LSU’s lead to 2-0 by breezing past Mattos, 6-2, 6-0. The Czech Republic native has won four-straight matches.
Dessauer dominated his opponent on court four as he swept Nicoara, 6-0, 6-0.
Bryan ended a two-match skid by taking out Mascall in straight sets each by a 6-1 score. The New Orleans native’s win clinched the match for the Tigers and places him tied for 18th place on LSU’s career singles win list with 81. Bryan leads the team with 23 wins this season.
DeRoche shined in the first SEC dual match of his career by handily defeating Williams, 6-3, 6-4.
With the win in hand, the Tigers faltered in the final two matches as the Razorbacks picked up wins on courts one and three.
The Tigers will remain in Baton Rouge this week as they are set to host the SEC Tournament. Tournament play begins Thursday at 8 a.m.
#12 LSU 5, Arkansas 2
April 14, 2007 at Baton Rouge, La.
Singles competition:
1. #77 Blake Strode (ARK) def. #24 Ken Skupski, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4
2. #34 Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Colin Mascall (ARK), 6-1, 6-1
3. Dmitry Lebedev (ARK) def. Colt Gaston (LSU), 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
4. #76 Kevin Dessauer (LSU) def. Andrei Nicoara (ARK), 6-0, 6-0
5. Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Gabriel Mattos (ARK), 6-2, 6-0
6. Eric DeRoche (LSU) def. Bradwin Williams (ARK), 6-3, 6-4
Doubles competition:
1. #7 Danny Bryan/Colt Gaston (LSU) def. #49 Colin Mascall/Blake Strode (ARK), 8-6
2. #19 James Cluskey/Ken Skupski (LSU) def. Gabriel Mattos/Bradwin Williams (ARK), 8-5
3. Kevin Dessauer/Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Dmitry Lebedev/Andrei Nicoara (ARK), 8-2
Match notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (3, 2, 1); Singles (5, 4, 2, 6, 3, 1)
# – national rankings
SEC Men’s Tennis Standings
Eastern Division
1. Georgia, 11-0 — No. 1 Seed
2. Florida, 7-3 (holds tie-breaker with LSU and Tennessee)
2. Tennessee, 7-4 (holds tie-breaker with Alabama)
4. Vanderbilt, 4-7 — No. 8 Seed
5. Kentucky, 3-8 — No. 10 Seed
6. South Carolina, 2-9 — No. 11 Seed
Western Division
1. Ole Miss, 9-2 — No. 2 Seed
2. LSU, 7-4 (holds tie-breaker with Alabama and Tennessee)
2. Alabama, 7-4 (holds tie-breaker with Florida)
4. Auburn, 5-5 — No. 7 Seed
5. Mississippi St., 3-8 (holds tie-breaker with Kentucky) — No. 9 Seed
6. Arkansas, 0-11 — No. 12 Seed
SEC Tournament Pairings
Thursday, April 19 (Times TBD)
#5 vs. #12 Arkansas
#6 vs. #11 South Carolina
#7 Auburn vs. #10 Kentucky
#8 Vanderbilt vs. #9 Mississippi St.
Friday, April 20
#1 Georgia vs. TBD
#2 Ole Miss vs. TBD
#3 vs. TBD
#4 vs. TBD