HOUSTON — Sophomore Julien Gauthier and freshman Stefan Szacinski of the LSU men’s tennis team each moved through his respective brackets on Saturday at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium to earn a spot in the finals at the Rice Invitational.
Gauthier overcame Rice’s Isamu Tachibana 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-6) to earn a spot in the final of Flight A. The victory over Tachibana is Gauthier’s second of the tournament as he defeated Southern Methodist’s Bryan Griffin on day one of the event.
Szacinski has had a breakout performance in his inaugural event with LSU. The newcomer catapulted himself into the Flight B finals after edging out Rice’s Oscar Podlewski in a close match 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 (13-11).
Freshman James Turbervill also notched a win in the back draw of Flight C with a 6-3, 6-2 mark over Tulane’s Coby Colinkoff.
Turbervill garnered his second win of the day when he teamed up with junior Cody Loup to blank Prairie View A&M’s Jose Garcia and Cudakwashe Nyatoti 8-0.
Also in Flight C, sophomore David Roberts picked up a win after the Lafayette, La., native moved to a straight-set victory over Southern Methodist’s Mason Harrell 6-4, 6-0.
“I thought we did well today, and Julien and Stefan did very well,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “The doubles teams did a good job and tomorrow will be a good day.”
The Rice Invitational concludes Sunday with match times to be announced.
Rice Invitational
Sept. 11-13
Houston, Texas
Jake Hess Tennis Stadium
Singles
Flight A
Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Isamu Tachibana (Rice) 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-6)
Michael Nusslein (Rice) def Mark Bowtell (LSU) 6-4, 6-7, 1-0 (10-5)
Flight B
Stefan Szacinski (LSU) def. Oscar Podlewski (Rice) 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 (13-11)
Flight C
James Turbervill (LSU) def Coby Colinkoff (Tulane) 6-3, 6-2
David Roberts (LSU) def. Mason Harrell (SMU) 6-4, 6-0
Flight D
Tobias Flood (SMU) def. Roger Anderson (LSU) def. 6-2, 6-2
Doubles
Flight A
Isamu Tachibana/ Oscar Podlewski (Rice) def. Mark Bowtell / Stefan Szacinski (LSU) 8-4
Joe Young/ Adam Bernstein (Tulane) def. Julien Gauthier/ David Roberts (LSU) 8-3
Flight B
Andy Wang (Rice)/Roger Anderson (LSU) def Vishnu Rajam/ Jonathan Chang (Rice), 8-5
Cody Loup/ James Turbervill (LSU) def. Cudakwashe Nyatoti/ Jose Garcia (PV A&M), 8-0