AUBURN, Ala. — An early doubles point and three solid singles performances lifted the eighth-seeded LSU men’s tennis team over ninth-seeded South Carolina by a 4-2 mark in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Thursday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
“We continued playing well in doubles,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “It proved to be a very important point for us. I thought everyone did a great job of having good energy whether they were up or down.”
LSU fought through doubles with the Tigers’ premier duo leading LSU off the courts. Third-ranked Michael Venus and Neal Skupski cruised to an 8-4 victory over 23rd-ranked Diego Cubas and Ivan Machado to pick up LSU’s first win of the day.
Sophomore duo Sebastian Carlsson and Julien Gauthier clinched the early doubles point for LSU with an 8-4 mark over Johannes Pulsfort and Ivan Cressoni. At the time the Tigers clinched the point, court two was left unfinished; however, LSU’s senior tandem of James Cluskey and Jonathan Tragardh held at 6-all on the court against Pedro Campos and Joe Veeder at the time of the match’s suspension.
A fierce battle ensued in singles with South Carolina taking the first point on court six when LSU’s Tragardh fell to Cressoni 6-4, 6-2.
Tiger freshman Mark Bowtell excelled at court five to take his match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, and take the next point for the Tigers, putting LSU into the lead at 2-1
Venus provided the next point, taking down 51st-ranked Cubas on court one. After Cubas posted a first-set victory of 6-2, sixth-ranked Venus retaliated by marking a 6-1, 6-3 mark in the final two sets.
LSU’s Carlsson fought on court four, but fell in by a close mark in straight-sets, 6-4-7-6, pushing the match decision to courts three and four where two Tigers remained standing.
Skupski launched into a third set slightly before Carlsson fell and Cluskey followed suit on court two.
Down 5-3 to Jaime Cuellar, Skupski fought back to tie the match at 5-all, then pulled ahead to clinch his second-straight match for the Tigers, propelling LSU to a 4-2 mark over South Carolina.
As a result of Skupski clinching the match, Cluskey’s match was suspended with the 6-6 LSU senior tied at 3-all in the third set.
“Mark did a good job of closing his out court and Michael did a good job of coming back to close his court down as well,” Brown said. “Neal continues to impress us with his fight and capability to come back from tough situations”
The victory pushes LSU’s record to 10-10 and drops South Carolina’s to 15-10 in dual competition.
Next up, LSU faces top-seeded Ole Miss. The second-ranked Rebels own a 21-2 record on the season and posted a perfect 11-0 record against SEC competition.
LSU owns a 43-13 all-time series against Ole Miss, but it was the Rebels that took the last meeting between the two during the regular season by a 5-2 mark in Baton Rouge.
Ole Miss owns the top-ranked duo in the nation in Bram ten Berge and Jonas Berg, holding a 15-7 record in dual competition
Three Rebels appear in the singles rankings with 16th-ranked Berg leading the trio, posting a 13-4 record on the season. No. 37 Devin Britton posts 13-8 with No. 39 Kalle Norberg closely behind at 17-1 on the season.
The Tigers and Rebels first met at the SEC Tournament in 1991. LSU emerged victorious by a 5-3 mark and saw Ole Miss twice more at future conference tournaments, winning by a 4-1 mark in 1998 and dropping the match 4-3 in 2005.
The Tigers and Rebels face off at 11 a.m. CDT on Friday to decide which team moves on to the semifinals of the 2009 SEC Tournament.
#30 LSU 4, #28 South Carolina 2
April 23, 2009
Auburn, Ala. (Yarbrough Tennis Center)
Singles
1. #6 Michael Venus (LSU) def. #51 Diego Cubas (USC) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3
2. James Cluskey (LSU) vs. Pedro Campos (USC) 4-6, 6-4, 3-3, unfinished
3. Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Jaime Cuellar (USC) 6-2, 1-6, 7-5
4. Ivan Machado (USC) def. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) 6-4, 7-6
5. Mark Bowtell (LSU) def. Johannes Pulsfort (USC) 6-4, 6-1
6. Ivan Cressoni (USC) def. Jonathan Tragardh (LSU) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles
1. #3 Michael Venus/Neal Skupski (LSU) def. #23 Diego Cubas/Ivan Machado (USC) 8-4
2. James Cluskey/Jonathan Tragardh (LSU) vs. Pedro Campos/Joe Veeder (USC) 6-6, unfinished
3. Sebastian Carlsson/Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Ivan Cressoni/Johannes Pulsfort (USC) 8-4
Match Notes
South Carolina 15-10, 3-8 SEC; National ranking #28
LSU 10-10, 4-7 SEC; National ranking #30
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (6,5,1,4,3)
2009 SEC Tournament First Round
LSU will play No. 1 overall seed Ole Miss in the Second Round