BATON ROUGE — The 26th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team hopes to extend its three-match win streak Wednesday at 4 p.m. when it steps out of conference play to host South Florida at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
The Tigers (7-3, 2-2 SEC) notched three dominating victories this past weekend over 55th-ranked Kentucky, 22nd-ranked Vanderbilt and Centenary.
On Friday, LSU claimed a 4-0 win against Kentucky in a match that was delayed for six hours due to poor weather conditions. LSU dominated its doubleheader last Sunday by knocking off No. 22 Vanderbilt, 6-1, and Centenary, 7-0.
The Bulls (9-3, 2-0 Big East) are led by head coach Don Barr and have won five straight matches, most recently a 5-0 win against Georgia State. South Florida’s No. 1 singles player, freshman Lucas Jovita, is listed at No. 78 in the national ranking with a 14-3 record.
Former Tiger Tamer El Sawy serves as a volunteer assistant coach for the Bulls. Sawy played at the No. 1 spot for the Tigers from 1991-93. The three-time All-American helped LSU to two NCAA Sweet 16 appearances and reached the 1993 NCAA singles semifinals.
“South Florida has a win over No. 11 Rice and has had an overall strong season,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We are excited to get back out on the court after a strong weekend. Now that we have more matches under our belt we are getting into more of a rhythm and are building some confidence.”
LSU boasts five players with double digit singles wins. Last weekend, the Tigers won 14 of their 15 singles matches while only dropping three sets. Freshman sensation Sebastian Carlsson has been LSU’s most consistent threat with a team-best 19-5 record. The Sweeden native is 8-1 in dual matches and has won his last four matches.
Senior captain Kevin Dessauer has been perfect in dual play with an 8-0 record.
Junior James Cluskey has been solid for LSU at the four spot with a 5-1 record at the position. The Ireland native has won six consecutive matches.
After losing the doubles point in their first two SEC matches, the Tiger tinkered with their doubles lineup this past weekend which resulted in them winning all eight of their doubles matches.
The new duo of Carlsson and Dessauer highlighted LSU’s recent doubles success on Sunday with two 8-0 victories against Vanderbilt and Centenary. The Tiger tandem only relinquished 20 points in its shutout victories.
“The improvement in doubles had a lot to do with us being able to play a lot of matches,” Brown commented. “With the weather disruptions earlier in the year, we didn’t have enough results to go on. Once we started playing a lot of matches, we put some teams together that are strong and have good chemistry.”
After Wednesday’s match, The Tigers stay out of conference for their next contest when they face the No. 2-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday at noon.