CHAMPAIGN, ILL. — The 17th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team suffered it’s first lost of the season Saturday night as it fell to 12th-ranked Illinois,6-1, at the Atkins Tennis Center.
LSU’s highlight of the match was team captain Kevin Dessauer who defeated Brandon Davis, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 10-6. The senior’s win puts his record at 7-7 on the season.
The Illini (3-2) won all three doubles matches and five of the six singles matches against the Tigers (1-1).
Saturday’s match was played indoors, which is something the Tigers have little experience playing in.
LSU still leads in the all-time series with a 5-4 record against Illinois.
“We were in quite a few of the matches but obviously we didn’t finish as well as we would have liked,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “We are a competitive team and we continue to improve. It was a good road experience this early in the season and we got a lot out of this trip.”
Julien Gauthier and Zelezny had the closet matches where they fought the Illini pair of
Waylong Chin and Marc Spicijaric to a tiebreaker. The two teams extended their highly contested battle in the tiebreaker before the Illini pull away to take the tiebreaker by a 11-9 score.
Michael Venus and James Cluskey took a 2-1 lead of the 36th-ranked duo of Billy Heiser and Ryan Rowe of Illinois. The match remained close in the early goings with Ilini pair taking a 4-3 lead. The Tigers were only able to win one more game as the Illini won the match by an 8-4 decision.
Gauthier and Zelezny each took their singles opponent to a third set.
Zelezny rallied back from a first-set loss against 30th-ranked Heiser to capture the second set, 6-3. The two went back and fourth in the final set with Heiser coming out on top, 7-5.
Gauthier dominated the second set against Chin, 6-2, to push their match to a third set. Gauthier’s momentum dwindled in the final set as he fell by a 6-2 score.
LSU returns to W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 17 when it hosts a doubleheader with Southern Miss at noon and Southern at 5 p.m.
#12 Illinois def. #17 LSU, 6-1
Feb. 9, 2008 at Champaign, Ill.
Atkins Tennis Center
Singles
1. Ruben Gonzales (ILL) def. Michael Venus (LSU), 6-1, 6-4
2. #15 Ryan Rowe (ILL) def. #99 Colt Gaston (LSU), 6-4, 6-4
3. #70 Billy Heiser (ILL) def. #88 Jan Zelezny (LSU). 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
4. Marc Spicijaric (ILL) def. James Cluskey (LSU), 6-3, 6-4
5. Waylon Chin (ULL) def. Julien Gauthier (LSU), 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
6. Kevin Dessauer (LSU) def. Brandon Davis (ULL), 6-4, 6-7 (5), 10-6
Doubles
1. Billy Heiser/#36 Ryan Rowe (ILL) def. James Cluskey/Michael Venus (LSU), 8-4
2. Brandon Davis/Ruben Gonzales (ILL) def. Kevin Dessauer/Colt Gaston (LSU), 8-5
3. Waylon Chin/Marc Spicijaric (ILL) def. Julien Gauthier/Jan Zelezny (LSU), 9-8 (9)
Match Notes:
LSU: 1-1; National ranking #17
Illinois: 3-2; National ranking #12
Order of finish: Doubles (1, 2, 3); Singles (1, 4, 2, 5, 6, 3)
Men's Tennis Falls to No. 12 Illinois, 6-1