BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s tennis team fell to Ohio State in W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium, 4-2, narrowly missing an upset of the third-ranked Buckeyes, and jumped 14 spots in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls released on Tuesday to No. 41.
After losing the early doubles point, LSU took the lead in singles after the Tigers won two early courts with straight-set victories.
Sebastian Carlsson was the first off the courts for the Tigers with a decisive win over 74th-ranked Dino Marcan on court three. The win was the second of the year for junior against a nationally-ranked opponent.
Sophomore Mark Bowtell closed out the second point for LSU after defeating 117th-ranked Shuhei Uzawa, 6-1, 6-4, to give LSU the 2-1 advantage over Ohio State.
The Buckeyes retaliated by taking courts five and six where Tigers Julien Gauthier and James Turbervill fell to their respective opponents and tied the match at 3-all.
With the match hanging in the balance, the top two courts remained in progress where LSU’s 46th-ranked Neal Skupski and Stefan Szacinski battled with 17th-ranked Chase Buchanan and 26th-ranked Justin Kronauge, respectively.
Skupski held the advantage over Buchanan, 6-3, 4-4, when the Buckeyes managed to clinch the match as Szacinski fell to Kronauge, 6-4, 6-1.
“We are still searching for answers in doubles, but it was a little better in spots today,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “In singles, we can compete with anyone, and at some points today, we had them in a lot of trouble, but we are going back to work and getting ready to play against Georgia on Sunday.”
The Tigers host the seventh-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in their next match slated for Sunday at 11 a.m. in the “Dub.”
#3 Ohio State University 4, #41 LSU 2
March 23, 2010
W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium
Baton Rouge, La.
Singles
1. #46 Neal Skupski (LSU) vs. #17 Chase Buchanan (OSU) 6-3, 4-4, unfinished
2. #26 Justin Kronauge (OSU) def. Stefan Szacinski (LSU) 6-4, 6-1
3. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. #74 Dino Marcan (OSU) 6-0, 6-3
4. Mark Bowtell (LSU) def. #117 Shuhei Uzawa (OSU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Balazs Novak (OSU) def. Julien Gauthier (LSU) 6-2, 6-2
6. Matt Allare (OSU) def. James Turbervill (LSU) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles
1. Neal Skupski/Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) vs. Matt Allare/Shuhei Uzawa (OSU) 5-3, unfinished
2. #43 Chase Buchanan/Dino Marcan (OSU) def. Mark Bowtell/Roger Anderson (LSU) 8-3
3. Justin Kronauge/Balazs Novak (OSU) def. Stefan Szacinski/David Roberts (LSU) 8-3
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (3,4,5,6,2)