BATON ROUGE — The 14th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team claimed a 4-0 victory over both UL-Lafayette and New Orleans in a Saturday double-header held at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
“It was very cold and windy and you can easily become distracted when you are playing quality opponents such as ULL and UNO,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “We did a good job of keeping our focus, but the team is eager to get into Southeastern Conference play and warmer weather as well.”
LSU (4-2) faced UL-Lafayette in the first match of the day as the Tigers catapulted ahead in doubles.
LSU duo James Cluskey and Mark Bowtell were first off the courts to set the pace for the Tigers as the Irish duo cruised to an 8-1 victory on court two against ULL’s Piotr Banas and Piotr Olechowski. The victory allowed the duo to remain undefeated and pushed the Tiger tandem’s record to 4-0.
The No. 9 LSU duo of Michael Venus and Neal Skupski clinched doubles with an 8-4 mark over ULL’s Yanick Mandl and Arlen Domoney, putting LSU on the board.
As the Tigers took the 1-0 lead into singles, Venus, No. 5 in the nation, continued LSU’s dominance, moving over ULL’s Olechowski in straight-sets, 6-2, 6-3.
Sophomore Sebastian Carlsson added the third point for LSU as he cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Mandl. With LSU leading 3-0, sophomore Julien Gauthier clinched the match against ULL’s Arlen Domoney by a 6-2, 6-0 mark. LSU claimed the victory by a 4-0 mark and dropped the Ragin’ Cajuns record to 3-3 on the season.
The Tigers took on the UNO Privateers in the second match of Saturday’s double-header.
To begin the match, LSU’s sophomore duo of Carlsson and Gauthier posted an 8-1 victory over UNO’s Oliver Cuthill and Guilherme Rebolo on court two to once again give the Tigers the momentum in doubles. Cluskey and Bowtell gave the Tigers their second doubles point of the day as the LSU duo clinched against Vinay Kamineni and Jose Gaspar, 8-5, on court three.
As singles competition began, LSU jumped ahead on the first five courts to capture first-set victories.
Gauthier was the first off the courts in singles as he breezed past UNO’s Jose Gaspar to take the match 6-1, 6-2, pushing his record to 3-1 in the dual season.
With LSU leading the second set on every court, Skupski was the next to post a victory, claiming a 6-2, 6-4 mark over Privateer Vinay Kamineni and remaining undefeated in dual competition.
Skupski’s victory poised LSU to take the match. On court five, Bowtell dealt the final blow to the Privateers as he clinched the win against Oliver Cuthill, 6-2, 6-2, marking the first victory of the freshman’s season.
The Tigers begin SEC competition on March 6 as LSU faces off with Auburn in a match slated for 2 p.m. on LSU’s home courts.
LSU 4, UL-Lafayette 0
Feb 28, 2009
W.T. Dub Robinson Stadium
Singles competition
1. #5 Michael Venus (LSU) def. Piotr Olechowski (ULL) 6-2, 6-3
2. James Cluskey (LSU) vs. Javier Pulgar-Garcia (ULL) 6-2, 2-5, unfinished
3. Neal Skupski (LSU) vs. Piotr Banas (ULL) 3-6, 2-3, unfinished
4. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. Yanick Mandl (ULL) 6-0, 6-0
5. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Arlen Domoney (ULL) 6-2, 6-0
6. Mark Bowtell (LSU) vs. Neil Schneider (ULL) 5-6, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #9 Michael Venus/Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Yanick Mandl/Arlen Domoney (ULL) 8-4
2. James Cluskey/Mark Bowtell (LSU) def. Piotr Banas/Piotr Olechowski (ULL) 8-1
3. Sebastian Carlsson/Jonathan Tragardh (LSU) def. Javier Pulgar-Garcia/Neil Schneider (ULL) 6-5, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (1,4,5)
LSU 4, New Orleans 0
New Orleans vs LSU
Feb 28, 2009
W.T. Dub Robinson Stadium
Singles competition
1. #5 Michael Venus (LSU) vs. Calvin Kemp (UNO) 6-3, 4-2, unfinished
2. Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Vinay Kamineni (UNO) 6-2, 6-4
3. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) vs. Ben Smith (UNO) 6-1, 5-4, unfinished
4. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Jose Gaspar (UNO) 6-1, 6-2
5. Mark Bowtell (LSU) def. Oliver Cuthill (UNO) 6-2, 6-2
6. David Roberts (LSU) vs. Abdelrahman Zaki (UNO) 1-6, 6-1, 1-0, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. Ben Smith/Calvin Kemp (UNO) def. #9 Michael Venus/Neal Skupski (LSU) 8-4
2. Sebastian Carlsson/Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Guilherme Rebolo/Oliver Cuthill (UNO) 8-1
3. Mark Bowtell/James Cluskey (LSU) def. Vinay Kamineni/Jose Gaspar (UNO) 8-5
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,2,5)