ORLANDO, Fla. — Freshman Neal Skupski of the LSU men’s tennis team notched a win in both singles and doubles to give the Tigers two of three victories in day one on Friday at the University of Central Florida Invitational.
Skupski and fellow freshman Mark Bowtell each notched a singles win. In addition to his singles performance, Skupski paired with Sebastian Carlsson to provide the Tigers with a doubles victory as well.
“Neal has improved with every match he has used this fall as well as anyone I’ve coached,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “It was good for Mark to come through today as well because he has made quite a few changes to his game.”
Skupski has posted a 6-3 singles record for the fall season, including his victory over UCF’s Johan Beigart by a 7-6, 6-3 mark in today’s match.
Bowtell claimed victory in straight sets over UCF’s Danny Col?n by a 6-1, 6-4 mark.
The LSU tandem of Carlsson and Skupski defeated UCF duo Claudio Romano and Blaze Schwartz 8-5 to give the Tigers their third and final victory of the day.
LSU resumes play at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday against Florida Atlantic at the UCF Tennis Complex.
In addition to LSU competing in the UCF Invitational and ITA National Indoor Championships, the team will also now have a representative for the first U.S. team to compete in International University Challenge of Tennis.
The United States Tennis Association recently announced senior Michael Venus, 2008 D’Novo/ITA All-American Champion, will travel to Poiters, France, for the tournament Dec. 4-7. John Kauss of Gustavus Adolphus College and Georgia’s Nate Schnugg will complete the men’s roster.
Representing the women’s team will be Amanda Fink of the University of Southern California, Jennifer Kung of the University of Chicago and Kelcy McKenna of Arizona State.
Both the men’s and women’s team were selected based upon a joint partnership with the USTA and Intercollegiate Tennis Association. The teams are comprised the top male and female American finishers at the 2008 ITA All-American Championship, ITA Small College Championship and top-ranked American players in ITA preseason Division I rankings.
Along with the United States, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Montenegro, Russia and Switzerland will all compete in a best-of-seven format with two singles matches each for both the men and women, one men’s and one women’s doubles match and one mixed doubles match.
UCF Invitational
October 31- November 2, 2008
Orlando, Fla.
All Times Central
Oct. 31
Singles
Flight A
Claudio Romano (UCF) def. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU), 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Johan Beigart (UCF), 7-6 (6), 6-3
Flight B
Blaze Schwartz (UCF) def. Julien Gauthier (LSU), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
Tarek Ben Soltane (UCF) def. Jonthan Tragardh (LSU) 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
Flight C
Eugene Dolgovykh (UCF) def. David Roberts (LSU), 6-2, 5-7, 6-3
Brock Sakey (UCF) def. Ryan Lissner (LSU), 6-1, 7-6 (4)
Flight D
Mark Bowtell (LSU) def. Danny Col?n (UCF), 6-1, 6-4
Joe Delinks (UCF) def. Andrew Meyers (LSU) , 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
Flight A
Sebastian Carlsson/ Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Claudio Romano/Blaze Schwartz (UCF), 8-5
Flight B
Joe Delinks/Brock Sakey (UCF) def. Jonathan Tragardh/Julien Gauthier (LSU), 8-4
Flight C
Johan Beigart/Eugene Dolgovykh (UCF) def. Mark Bowtell/Ryan Lissner (LSU), 8-3
Flight D
Fen Soltane/Danny Col?n (UCF) def. David Roberts/Andrew Meyers (LSU), 8-4
Nov. 1
UCF vs. GSU, 8 a.m.
FAU vs. LSU, 12:30 p.m.