BATON ROUGE — The 16th ranked LSU men’s tennis team notched a win over No. 27 Rice by a 4-3 mark, pushing the Tigers’ record to 2-1 in dual season play on Saturday at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
LSU dominated doubles play, sweeping Rice and capturing the doubles point. Tiger tandem Neal Skupski and Michael Venus pushed their overall record as a duo for the dual season to 3-0 as they defeated Rice duo Tobias Schiel and Christoph Muller, 8-5.
The Irish duo of Mark Bowtell and James Cluskey clinched the doubles point for the Tigers by overcoming Rice tandem Bruno Rosa and Chong Wang, 8-6.
After the Tigers went up 1-0 on the board, LSU finished its sweep on court three as LSU duo Sebastian Carlsson and Jonathan Tragardh earned an 8-6 mark over Rice’s Isamu Tachibana and Sam Garforth-Bles.
Rice answered LSU’s doubles point by earning the first victory in singles as Cluskey fell to Bruno Rosa, No. 26 in the nation, 6-1, 6-1.
Tiger sophomore Carlsson earned the first singles victory for LSU on court four with a straight- set victory over Garforth-Bles, No. 61 in the nation. The Sweden native did not allow Garforth-Bles one point during the first set, breezing to a 6-0 mark. Carlsson battled through the second set to produce a 7-6 mark and take the victory.
Rice once again tied the match as LSU freshman Bowtell fell to Tachibana in a heated three-set match. After bouncing back from a first-set deficit of 6-0, Bowtell earned a 6-2 mark in the second set. After fighting through the third set to produce a 4-5 mark, the Ireland native fell with Tachibana taking the final set point and the match against Bowtell, 6-4.
On court five, sophomore Julien Gauthier catapulted the Tigers into the lead by defeating Rice’s Schiel, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7).
With the Tigers poised to take the overall match, LSU freshman Skupski dealt the final blow in a match against Wang, clinching the match with a straight-set victory, 6-4, 6-4.
“Today was a significant win against a very good team and everyone contributed from the doubles point to the singles victories,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We had some great performances out of Sebastian, Julien and Neal, who were put in a pressure situation because o f how well rice played on the other courts.”
LSU’s next match is scheduled for Feb. 22 against the No. 1 team in the nation, Ohio State. The two teams will face off on in an 11 a.m. match on the courts of the Stickney Tennis Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Rice vs. LSU
Feb. 7, 2009
#16 LSU 4, #27 Rice 3
Singles
1. Christoph Muller (Rice) def. # 2 Michael Venus (LSU), 7-6, 4-6, 6-1
2. #26 Bruno Rosa (Rice) def. James Cluskey (LSU), 6-1, 6-1
3. Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Chong Wang (Rice), 6-4, 6-4
4. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. #61 Sam Garforth-Bles (Rice), 6-0, 7-6 (8-6)
5. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Tobias Schiel (Rice), 6-3, 7-6 (9-7)
6. Isamu Tachibana (Rice) def. Mark Bowtell (LSU), 6-0, 2-6, 6-4
Doubles
1. Neal Skupski/Michael Venus (LSU) def. Christoph Muller/Tobias Schiel (Rice), 8-5
2. Mark Bowtell/James Cluskey (LSU) def. Bruno Rosa /Chong Wang (Rice), 8-6
3. Sebastian Carlsson/Jonathan Tragardh (LSU) def. Sam Garforth-Bles/Isamu Tachibana (Rice), 8-6
Order of Finish: Doubles (1, 2, 3);Singles (2,4,6,5,3,1)
Feb. 22
LSU vs. Ohio State, 11 a.m.