BATON ROUGE — Neal Skupski of the 16th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team was named the Southeastern Conference’s Freshman of the Week, the league office announced on Monday.
As LSU squared off against No. 27 Rice, Skupski and senior doubles partner Michael Venus faced Christoph Muller and Tobias Schiel. The Rice duo threatened to pull ahead with a 5-all mark, but the Tiger tandem captured the next three points to win the match by an 8-5 mark.
The LSU duo was first off the courts, maintaining a perfect 3-0 record in doubles as the Tiger tandem set the tone for LSU to capture the doubles point and sweep all three courts.
The LSU newcomer proved pivotal in LSU’s 4-3 victory over Rice with his singles performance as well. With LSU up 3-2, Skupski dealt the final blow to the 27th-ranked team with a 6-4, 6-4 mark over Rice’s Chong Wang to clinch the match on court three and push his singles record to 3-0 in the dual season.
Skupski and the rest of the Tigers return to action on Feb. 22 against the nation’s top-ranked team, Ohio State. The Tigers and Buckeyes will square off in an 11 a.m. match on Ohio State’s home courts at the Stickney Tennis Center in Columbus, Ohio.