BATON ROUGE — The 17th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team dominated its season opener against UL-Lafayette, 7-0, on Wednesday afternoon at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
The Tigers (1-0) swept all three doubles matches and won all the singles matches in straight sets against the Ragin’ Cajuns (1-3).
The win improves LSU’s series record against UL-Lafayette to a perfect 17-0.
It was the first dual match for freshmen Sebastian Carlsson and Julien Gauthier and Texas transfer Michael Venus.
“Our team was hungry and eager to get out there and compete,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “They showed great focus on every point. We are excited to face a very talented Illinois team on Saturday.”
It only took 22 minutes for the Tigers to win their first match of the day when James Cluskey and Venus crushed UL-Lafayette’s Jorge Delgado and Piotr Olechowski, 8-0. It was the first time the two Tigers had teamed up in a doubles match.
The senior duo of Kevin Dessauer and Colt Gaston breezed past Janusz Conradi and Ryan Hess of UL-Lafayette, 8-1, to clinch the doubles point for LSU.
Freshmen Carlsson and Gauthier finished the LSU doubles sweep by taking out Arlen Domoney and Stefan Hawkins, 8-4.
Venus put the Tigers up 2-0 by knocking off Olechowski, 6-1, 6-0, on court one. The win puts Venus’ season record at 3-1.
Dessauer breezed past Delgado, 6-0, 6-0, to increase LSU’s lead to 3-0.
Cluskey clinched the win for the Tigers by defeating Janusz Conradi, 6-1, 6-1.
With the match in hand, LSU continued its strong play as Carlsson and Zelezny took their matches in straight sets to finish the LSU sweep. Carlsson and Zelezny share the team-lead for singles wins with 12.
The Tigers hit the road for their next match when they travel to Urbana, Ill. on Saturday, Feb. 9 to face No. 12-ranked Illinois at 5 p.m.
#17 LSU def. UL-Lafayette, 7-0
Feb. 6, 2008 at Baton Rouge, La.
W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium
Singles
1. Michael Venus (LSU) def. Piotr Olechowski (UL), 6-0, 6-1
2. James Cluskey (LSU) def. Janusz Conradi (UL), 6-1, 6-1
3. #88 Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Arlen Domoney (UL), 6-2, 6-2
4. Kevin Dessauer (LSU) def. Jorge Delgado (UL), 6-0, 6-0
5. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Ryan Hess (UL), 6-3, 6-1
6. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. Stefan Hawkins (UL), 6-1, 6-3
Doubles
1. Kevin Dessauer/Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Janusz Conradi/Ryan Hess (UL), 8-1
2. James Cluskey/Michael Venus (LSU) def. Jorge Delgado/Piotr Olechowski (UL), 8-0
3. Sebastian Carlsson/Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Arlen Domoney/Stefan Hawkins (UL), 8-4
Match Notes:
UL-Lafayette: 1-3
LSU: 1-0; National ranking #17
Order of finish: Doubles (2, 1, 3); Singles (1, 4, 2, 5, 3, 6)