BATON ROUGE — The 26th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team put up a valiant effort against second-ranked Ohio State Sunday afternoon at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium but the Buckeyes prevailed with a 4-2 win.
The loss snapped a four-match win streak for the Tigers (8-4, 2-2 SEC.)
The Buckeyes (15-1, 2-0 Big Ten) took the doubles points and posted wins on courts one, three and four in singles to get the win. LSU leads the all-time series against its Big Ten rival with a 5-4 mark.
“After what I thought was a lackluster doubles point, I was proud of the momentum we created on all the singles courts,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We had great performances from Jan (Zelezny) and Kevin (Dessauer) to give us a quick two points.
“We were certainly in the other matches. Their strength ultimately came through with their top players (Steven) Moneke and (Bryan) Koniecko starting it up. Then (Matt) Allare kept his composure under tough circumstances which was the difference.”
In doubles, LSU struggled on courts two and three. LSU’s duo of Sebastian Carlsson and Dessauer saw their four-match win streak end when they fell to Justin Kronauge and Shuhei Uzawa, 8-2. The Ohio State pair of Koniecko and Moneke gave the Buckeyes the doubles point by taking out seniors Colt Gaston and Zelezny, 8-4, on court two.
LSU’s top duo of James Cluskey and Michael Venus was up 7-2 when their match was called after Ohio State clinched the early point.
In singles, LSU senior captain Dessauer put the Tigers on the scoreboard on court five with a convincing 6-0, 6-2, win to put his unblemished dual record at 10-0.
Zelezny gave LSU the lead with the biggest win of his career on court two by cruising against seventh-ranked Kronauge in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1. The ITA Scholar-Athlete is now on a five-match win streak.
The Buckeyes stole the momentum and the lead with straight-sets victories on courts one and three to put them ahead 3-2.
The focus switched to the far right side of the stadium with palpable intensity on courts four and six as the competitors went back and fourth to decide the outcome of the heated contest.
After losing the first set by a 6-2 mark against Allare, Cluskey rallied back on court four to take the second set, 6-3. Cluskey trailed 3-1 in the final set when he began to climb back in the match by taking three straight games to go ahead 4-3. Cluskey stumbled at the end as Allare captured the final three games to win the set, 6-4, and give Ohio State the win.
Carlsson was down a set and tied at 5-all against Balazs Novak on court six when the match was called after Ohio State clinched the match.
Next up, LSU will have another tough match against a top team when it travels to 11th-ranked Rice on Tuesday for a 1:30 p.m contest.
#2 Ohio State 4, #26 LSU 2
March 16, 2008 at Baton Rouge, La.
W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium
Singles
1. #34 Steven Moneke (OSU) def. #86 Michael Venus (LSU), 7-5, 6-0
2. Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. #7 Justin Kronauge (OSU), 6-2, 6-1
3. #29 Bryan Koniecko (OSU) def. Julien Gauthier (LSU), 6-4, 6-4
4. Matt Allare (OSU) def. James Cluskey (LSU), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
5. Kevin Dessauer (LSU) def. Shuhei Uzawa (OSU), 6-0, 6-2
6. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) vs. Balazs Novak (OSU), 4-6, 5-5, unfinished
Doubles
1. Michael Venus/James Cluskey (LSU) vs. #23 Matt Allare/Mike O’Connell (OSU), 7-2, unfinished
2. Bryan Koniecko/Steven Moneke (OSU) def. Colt Gaston/Jan Zelezny (LSU), 8-4
3. Justin Kronauge/Shuhei Uzawa (OSU) def. Sebastian Carlsson/Kevin Dessauer (LSU), 8-2
Match Notes:
Ohio State: 15-1, 2-0; National ranking #2
LSU: 8-4, 2-2; National ranking #26
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (5,2,1,3,4)