TULSA, Okla. — Junior Michael Venus of the 18th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team was ousted in the first round of the NCAA Singles Tournament by 18th-ranked Arnau Brugues of Tulsa, 6-3, 6-2, Wednesday morning at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
Venus, who is ranked No. 26 in the nation, struggled throughout his match against host Tulsa’s top player. The first-team All-SEC selection ended his strong season as a Tiger with a 14-9 singles record.
Brugues will now face the winner of Texas A&M’s Conor Pollock and fifth-seeded Daniel Vallverdu of Miami in the second round (round of 32).
“It was a tough match and he struggled a little bit today with the wind,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “Brugues was use to the conditions and used it to his advantage by getting out early in both sets. Mike had a good year and will learn from this experience.”
Venus will now prepare for the doubles portion of the tournament with partner James Cluskey begining Thursday at 6 p.m. CDT. The Tiger tandem is ranked No. 16 and will square off with the 11th-ranked pair of Billy Heiser and Ryan Rowe of Illinois for the second-straight time and third time this season.
Cluskey and Venus defeated the Illinois pair, 8-3, in LSU’s season ending loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Illini won the first meeting in their regular season contest on Feb. 9 by an 8-4 score.
“They have faced twice this year with each dominating the match they won,” Brown commented. “The rubber match tomorrow will be a tough contest.”
Last year, Cluskey and then-partner Ken Skupski reached the round of 16 of the tournament by defeating Boise State’s Piotr Dilaj and Luke Shields, 7-5, 6-3. The Tiger tandem fell to the third-ranked pair of Florida’s Jesse Levin and Greg Ouellette, 6-4, 6-3, in the round of 16.
In the first set, Brugues and Venus held serve for the first three games. Venus was up 40-15 in the fourth game when Brugues rallied back to break Venus and increase his lead to 3-1. After the three-time Conference-USA Player of the Year took the next game, Venus started to crawl back in the match by taking two straight games to trim his deficit to 4-3. Brugues regained the momentum by claiming the next two games to win the opening set by a 6-3 mark.
Venus’ struggles continued in the second set. The 6-3 junior quickly fell behind 2-0 before holding serve in the third game to put the score at 2-1. Venus was only able the get one more game the rest of the way as hometown Brugues cruised his way into the second round.
NCAA Individual Tournament
May 21-26, 2008 at Tulsa, Okla. (Michael D. Case Tennis Center)
Wednesday, May 21
First Round ? Round of 64
#18 Arnau Brugues (TULSA) def. #26 Michael Venus (LSU), 6-3, 6-2
Thursday, May 22
Doubles
First Round – Round of 32
#16 James Cluskey/Michael Venus (LSU) vs. #11 Billy Heiser/Ryan Rowe (ILL), 6 p.m.