BATON ROUGE — The 26th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team won the doubles point and put up a valiant effort on the bottom three singles courts against defending national champion and third-ranked Georgia Friday afternoon but it was not enough as the Bulldogs escaped W.T. “Dub “Robinson Tennis Stadium with a 4-2 victory.
Friday’s match is only the second time the Tigers (9-5, 2-3 SEC) have lost at home and their first defeat while winning the doubles point this season.
The Bulldogs improved their record to 15-1 and 5-0 in conference play.
“I felt like we possibly let one get away form us today,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “We started well with doubles. We certainly had our chances in singles. Georgia is a very good team and you can’t give them any easy matches.
“I felt our guys on the top three courts didn’t compete as well as they normally do. We weren’t able to close out in the second set on any of the bottom three courts. That put us in a tough position because we needed to win all three of those matches and Georgia is too good of a team to let that happen.”
On court one in doubles, juniors James Cluskey and Michael Venus faced the 31st-ranked team of Jamie Hunt and Nate Schnugg. The Tiger tandem controlled the match throughout and won by an 8-4 mark for their 10th win of the season. Cluskey and Venus own three wins against ranked opponents this season.
The senior pair of Kevin Dessauer and Colt Gaston started strong with a 4-0 advantage on court two against the 30th-ranked duo of Javier Garrapiz and Travis Helgeson. The Bulldogs started to creep back in the match by taking four of the next five games to cut the Tigers’ lead to 5-4. Dessauer and Gaston fought off the Bulldogs rally by taking two of the final three games to get an 8-5 victory and give LSU the doubles point.
LSU’s doubles victory marked only the third time this season Georgia had lost the early point. Heading into Friday’s match, Georgia had won the doubles point against LSU five straight times.
LSU had more reason to celebrate after the doubles victory as they recognized a number of former coaches, players and managers during the break between doubles and singles.
“It has been a great last couple of days seeing all the former lettermen in town,” Brown commented. “We spent a lot of time together and had a lot of fun. I wish them safe travel back and hope they had a good time. I hope they continue to come back and support the team.”
Georgia stole the momentum in singles by claiming straight-sets wins on the top three courts.
LSU took the first set on the bottom three courts.
Freshman Sebastian Carlsson took his first set against Christian Vitulli on court six by a 6-3 mark. Vitulli returned the favor by winning the second set by the same score. Vitulli continued to have success against Carlsson as he won the final set, 6-2, to give Georgia the win.
Senior captain Dessauer ended the match on a high note for LSU by defeating All-American Luis Flores 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. Dessauer is a perfect 8-0 at home this season.
Cluskey broke Garrapiz on court five to go up 2-1 in the third set when the match was suspended.
Next up, the Tigers face their fourth straight top-20 opponent when they travel to battle the 10th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers Sunday at noon.
“We have to focus on Tennessee now,” Brown said. “I am pleased with how we continue to improve but we still have a ways to go.”
#3 Georgia 4, #26 LSU 2
March 21, 2008 at Baton Rouge, La.
W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium
Singles
1. #6 Travis Helgeson (UGA) def. #92 Jan Zelezny (LSU), 6-2, 6-0
2. #8 Nate Schnugg (UGA) def. #74 Michael Venus (LSU), 6-3, 6-2
3. #36 Jamie Hunt (UGA) def. Julien Gauthier (LSU), 6-4, 6-1
4. Kevin Dessauer (LSU) def. #63 Luis Flores (UGA), 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
5. James Cluskey (LSU) vs. #93 Javier Garrapiz (UGA), 7-5, 0-6, 2-1, unfinished
6. Christian Vitulli (UGA) def. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Doubles
1. James Cluskey/Michael Venus (LSU) def. #31 Jamie Hunt/Nate Schnugg (UGA), 8-4
2. Kevin Dessauer/Colt Gaston (LSU) def. #30 Javier Garrapiz/Travis Helgeson (UGA), 8-5
3. Luis Flores/Josh Varela (UGA) def. Sebastian Carlsson/Jan Zelezny (LSU), 8-5
Match Notes:
Georgia 15-1, 5-0; National ranking #3
LSU 9-5, 2-2; National ranking #26
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (1,2,3,6,4)