BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team rallied, but fell short in a close 4-3 match against Southeastern Conference opponent Auburn on Friday at W.T. Robinson Stadium.
“Give a lot of credit to Auburn because to win on the road in the SEC is very difficult,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “They came out to win the early doubles point and won very convincingly on courts two and three in singles.”
As LSU (4-3) and Auburn squared off, Auburn captured court two in doubles as they overcame Irish Tiger tandem James Cluskey and Mark Bowtell by an 8-2 mark. In an answer to Auburn’s victory, LSU sophomore duo Sebastian Carlsson and Julien Gauthier took down Auburn’s Milan Krnjetin and Michel Monteiro, 8-5. The doubles point fell to court one where two top 15 duos faced off.
LSU’s No. 13 duo of Michael Venus and Neal Skupski battled against Auburn’s No. 11 team of Alexey Tsyrenov and Tim Puetz. The LSU duo jumped to the early lead 2-0 over Auburn, however, Tsyrenov and Puetz battled back. For every point LSU notched, the Auburn duo answered until the score was 5-all. Just short of the upset, Auburn took the lead and won the match by an 8-6 mark.
With Auburn (6-2) leading 1-0 into singles, LSU fell on two courts, giving the Tigers a slim margin for error. LSU freshman Bowtell rose to meet the challenge, moving over Auburn senior Alex Petropoulos in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, and giving LSU their first point.
Next off the courts for the Tigers was 9th-ranked Venus with a victory over No. 69 Tsyrenov by a 6-4, 6-4 mark. The victory marked Venus’ second win over a nationally ranked opponent in dual play and is part of his 9-4 overall mark against ranked opponents in his senior campaign.
LSU had fought back to a 2-3 mark and on court five, despite falling in the first set, LSU’s Carlsson battled fiercely against Auburn’s Alex Stamchev. When Stamchev pulled ahead 5-3, Carlsson cut his lead to 5-4 as he played with the overall match on the line. Even with great resilience and one of the longest points of the day, Stamchev proved too much for the Tiger sophomore, and Carlsson fell 6-4 as Auburn clinched the match, 4-2.
As Auburn clinched, LSU’s Gauthier led in the third set on court four against Krnjetin. The LSU sophomore overcame Krnjetin, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, and brought the final match score to 4-3.
“The three guys that won showed great form and effort as they are the ones that haven’t been winning as often,” Brown said. “It’s encouraging that when the other guys get back on board, it could get really good.”
LSU takes on their second SEC opponent of the weekend as the Tigers face the Alabama Crimson Tide in a 1 p.m. match in Robinson Stadium on Sunday.
#26 Auburn 4, #30 LSU 3
March 6, 2009
W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium
Singles competition
1. #9 Michael Venus (LSU) def. #69 Alexey Tsyrenov (AUB) 6-4, 6-4
2. #105 Tim Puetz (AUB) def. James Cluskey (LSU) 6-2, 6-1
3. Lukas Marsoun (AUB) def. Neal Skupski (LSU) 6-1, 6-2
4. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Milan Krnjetin (AUB) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
5. Alex Stamchev (AUB) def. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) 6-4, 6-4
6. Mark Bowtell (LSU) def. Alex Petropoulos (AUB) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. #11 Alexey Tsyrenov/Tim Puetz (AUB) def. #13 Michael Venus/Neal Skupski (LSU) 8-6
2. Lukas Marsoun/Alex Stamchev (AUB) def. James Cluskey/Mark Bowtell (LSU) 8-2
3. Sebastian Carlsson/Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Milan Krnjetin/Michel Monteiro (AUB) 8-5
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,2,6,1,5)