COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The 35th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team made a hard run, but fell short 4-3 to No. 15 Texas A&M on Saturday at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
Texas A&M (8-5, 0-0 Big 12) started the match by setting claim to a close doubles point. LSU’s 12th-ranked duo of Michael Venus and Neal Skupski fell to a top ten contender in No. 3 Conor Pollock and Austin Krajicek, 8-3, to leave a showdown on both courts two and three as each entered into a tiebreaker.
On court two, LSU senior duo James Cluskey and Jonathan Tragardh battled with Colin Hoover and Alexey Grigorov. With the match tied at 8-8, the Aggies were able to pull away to take the 9-8 victory and clinch the doubles point.
LSU sophomore duo Sebastian Carlsson and Julien Gauthier pushed through on court three after the doubles decision with a 9-4 mark over Texas A&M’s Calon Alpar and Marcus Lunt.
“It was an extremely close match all the way up and down, starting in doubles,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “On court one, we weren’t having a great day and on two, we were just a little bit off.”
LSU (6-6, 1-3 SEC) had several solid singles performances at one point jumping up a set on courts one, three, four and five.
Ninth-ranked Venus toppled No. 16 Pollock in straight sets as the two nationally-ranked players squared off on court one, 6-3, 6-4. Venus was first off the singles courts and tied the overall score at 1-1.
Next off the courts was LSU’s Gauthier as he cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 mark over Kayvon Karimi to put LSU in the lead on the boards, 2-1.
The Aggies retaliated, taking two more singles matches, and once again jumped into the lead. The match decision rested on court four.
LSU’s Carlsson battled into a third set with Texas A&M’s Lunt. After splitting the first two sets, the 6-0 LSU sophomore worked to bounce back from a 2-5 deficit in the third set. Carlsson showed resilience once again as he battled back to a 4-5 mark, but Lunt proved too much and clinched the match for the Aggies after he posted a 6-4 mark.
Tiger freshman Skupski was able to emerge victorious from his match after the clinch against Grigorov, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 7-6 (3).
“Lunt played really well on four and it was a good match. We have definitely improved and Michael, Julien and Neal got nice wins,” Brown said.
LSU returns to action against Southeastern Conference opponent Georgia on Friday as the Tigers travel to take on the Bulldogs in a 5 p.m. CDT match at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
#15TEXAS A&M 4, #35 LSU 3
March 21, 2009
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
at College Station, Texas
SINGLES
1. #9 Michael Venus (LSU) def. #16 Conor Pollock (Texas A&M), 6-3, 6-4.
2. #52 Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M) def. James Cluskey (LSU), 6-4, 6-4.
3. Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M), 7-6 (3), 2-6, 7-6 (3).
4. Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M) def. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
5. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Kayvon Karimi (Texas A&M), 6-1, 6-0.
6. Colin Hoover (Texas A&M) def. Mark Bowtell (LSU), 6-1, 6-4.
DOUBLES
1. #3 Austin Krajicek/Conor Pollock (Texas A&M) def. #12 Neal Skupski/Michael Venus (LSU), 8-3.
2. Alexey Grigorov/Colin Hoover (Texas A&M) def. Cluskey-Jonathan Tragardh (LSU), 9-8 (4).
3. Sebastian Carlsson/Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Calon Alpar/Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M), 9-8 (2).
ORDER OF FINISH
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Singles: 1, 5, 6, 2, 4*, 3