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Skupski, Doubles Teams Advance at NCAA's

by LSUsports.net (@LSUsports)
Live Results NCAA Men's Doubles Bracket (.pdf) +0
Skupski, Doubles Teams Advance at NCAA's

ATHENS, Ga. — The LSU men’s team will continue to be well represented in the NCAA Individual Tournament as Ken Skupski advanced to the singles round of 16 and the doubles teams of Danny Bryan and Colt Gaston, and Skupski and James Cluskey also advanced to the round of 16 on Thursday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

Senior Skupski continued his strong NCAA singles performance by ousting No. 37-ranked Bojan Szumanski of Texas Tech, 6-4, 6-3, in the round of 32.

Skupski, a Liverpool, England native, will now face good friend and top seed John Isner of Georgia on Friday in the round of 16.

The fourth-seeded doubles duo of Bryan and Gaston fought off a valiant effort from the No.54-ranked team of Tim Bradshaw and Brady Crosby of Western Michigan, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, in the opening round of the doubles tournament.

In LSU’s second doubles match, Cluskey and Skupski breezed past the No.56-ranked Boise State pair of Piotr Dilaj and Luke Shields, 7-5, 6-3.

The singles win improves Skupski’s record to 24-15 on the season. The first-team All SEC selection has defeated 14 ranked opponents this season. By advancing to the round of 16, Skupski has achieved ITA All-American honors for the third time in his career. The 6-1 senior was named a doubles ITA All-American in 2005 and received singles ITA All-American honors in 2006.  

“It has been an up and down year for me. I have had to deal with this being my last season,” Skupski said. “This is the biggest tournament of the year and unfortunately we weren’t able to advance to the latter rounds of the team tournament. I am very confident heading into my next match. I will be going against John (Isner), which should be a huge match.”

Skupski is the first Tiger to reach the round of 16 singles since Pedro Braga did it in 1995.

The first-team all conference competitors had a heated battled in the first set. Skupski took control with a break in the opening game. Szumanski responded with a break of his own in the second game. They held serve the next six games to set the score at 4-all. Skupski captured the momentum by taking the next two games to win the set by 6-4 decision.

With the score tied 2-all, Skupski broke Szumanski to take the lead. Skupski would never relinquish the lead as he won three out of the next four games to punch his ticket into the round of 16.

Bryan and Gaston’s win improves the Tiger tandem’s record to 23-3 on the season. The All-American duo will face the No. 32-ranked team of Markus Dickhardt and Christian Groh of San Diego State on Friday.

“After losing the second set, we knew we had to pick our play up if we wanted to have a chance at getting the win,” Bryan said. “It is always nice to get past the first round jitters and to continue to play in the tournament.”

With the score tied 3-all in the first set, the LSU pair charged ahead by winning three-straight games to claim the first set, 6-3. Bryan and Gaston found themselves in a deep hole in the second set as they fell behind by a 4-1 score. The LSU pair was able to tie it at 4-all but could not take the lead as the Broncos clinched the next two games to send the match to a third set.

Bryan and Gaston retaliated in the final set by jumping out to a 5-2 advantage. The Broncos grabbed two more games before the Tigers were able to seal the deal by clinching the 10th game to advance to the round of 16.

Cluskey and Skupski went back and forth with their opponents in the first set before the Tigers were able to pull away with a 7-5 set victory.  

In the second set, the LSU pair continued to gell together as they won, 6-3, on their way to the round of 16.

The win improves Cluskey and Skupski’s record to 23-10 on the season.  The duo has won eight of their last 10 matches.

Cluskey and Skupski will now face the No. 3-ranked pair of Jesse Levin and Greg Ouelette of Florida.

Action will resume Friday at 9 a.m. CDT.

NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Championship
Round of 32
May 24, 2007
#24 Ken Skupski (LSU) def. #37 Bojan Szumanski (TT) 6-4, 6-3 

Round of 16
May 25, 2007
#24 Ken Skupski (LSU; 24-15 overall) vs. of (1) #1 John Isner (UGA; 41-5 overall), 9 a.m.

NCAA Men’s Tennis Doubles Championship
May 24, 2007
Round of 32
(4) #4 Danny Bryan/Colt Gaston (LSU) def. #54 Tim Bradshaw/Brady Crosby (WM), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
#22 James Cluskey/Ken Skupski (LSU) def. #56 Piotr Dilaj/Luke Shields (BOISE), 7-5, 6-3

Round of 16
May 25, 2007
(4) #4 Danny Bryan/Colt Gaston (LSU; 23-3 overall) vs. #32 Markus Dickhardt/Christian Groh (San Diego St.), 2 p.m.
#22 James Cluskey/Ken Skupski (LSU 23-10 overall) vs. (3) #3 Jesse Levin/Greg Ouelette (Florida), 4:30 p.m.

NCAA Tournament seed in parenthesis before name
# – indicates ITA national ranking entering tournament