BATON ROUGE – The No. 33 LSU men’s tennis team extended its win streak to three matches by sweeping its doubleheader against in-state opponents UL-Lafayette and UNO on Tuesday at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
The Tigers (3-2) easily handled the Ragin’ Cajuns (0-3) 6-1 in the first match, and then cruised to 7-0 victory in the nightcap against the Privateers (1-1).
“We did a good job dominating today,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “A lot of guys built up their confidence and were able to improve their games. It was also a great chance for some of the guys who don’t normally get to play often into the match.”
LSU squared-off against ULL in the first match of the day. In doubles, the Cajuns struck first with a win on Court 2, but it wouldn’t take long for the Tigers to respond.
The LSU duo of Stefan Szacinski and Roger Anderson took down ULL’s Carl Alberton and Oscar Pachon 8-4 on Court 3 to even up the doubles matches. The No. 27 doubles pair of Sebastian Carlsson and Neal Skupski then clinched the doubles point for the second straight match, posting an 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles over Carlin Murray and Ted Nilsson of ULL.
In singles LSU took control early and never looked back. LSU’s two seniors, Carlsson and Julien Gauthier, used their experience as they picked up the first two victories. Carlsson was first off the courts after making quick work of ULL’s Brandon Farine 6-2, 6-4 on Court 3 and Gauthier was right behind, knocking off Nilsson in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 to give the Tigers a 3-0 advantage.
Junior Tom Knights would seal the victory for the Tigers on Court 6, as he finished off Alberton 6-3, 6-3. Even though the match was decided at that point, the other three singles matches were completed. Murray picked up the Cajuns only singles victory over LSU’s Mark Bowtell on Court 2, but Skupski and Szacinski would tack on victories on Courts 1 and 6, respectively, to give LSU a 6-1 win.
With the win, the Tigers are now 20-0 all-time against the Cajuns.
As temperatures dropped into the low 40s, LSU then faced the Privateers of UNO in the nightcap of the doubleheader, but the cold weather didn’t slow down the Tigers.
Due to injury UNO was forced to forfeit its No. 3 doubles match and the No. 6 singles point, so only two doubles matches and five singles matches were played.
Carlsson and Skupski earned their fourth-straight doubles victory as they made quick work of UNO’s Benjamin Bouhana and Hossam Meligy 8-1 at the top spot. Knights and Gautier would follow with an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles to clinch the doubles point.
Due to the forfeiture, the Tigers led 2-0 heading into singles play. Szacinski produced a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles against the Privateers Oliver Grimbly to put LSU ahead 3-0. Carlsson then continued to display his dominance, earning his third-straight singles win and seventh-straight win overall as he dropped Vinay Kamineni in straight sets 6-1, 6-0 on Court 2 to seal the victory for the Tigers 4-0.
As with the previous match, the last three singles matches were still completed. Junior David Roberts picked up his first dual victory of the season as he blanked Rohit Chivukula 6-0, 6-0 on Court 5. Knights picked up a 6-2, 6-2 win over Meligy at No. 4 singles, and Skupski would complete the 7-0 victory with a 6-3, 6-4 on Court 1 over Bouhana.
The win improved LSU’s all-time record against the Privateers to 24-0.
The Tigers look to maintain their win streak this weekend when they hit the road to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the fourth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Feb. 12.
Louisiana-Lafayette vs LSU
Feb 08, 2011 at Baton Rouge, La
W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium – 3 p.m.
#33 LSU 6, Louisiana 1
Singles competition
1. Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Mandl, Yanick (UL) 6-4, 6-2
2. Murray, Carlin (UL) def. Mark Bowtell (LSU) 6-3, 6-3
3. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. Farine, Brandon (UL) 6-2, 6-4
4. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Nilsson, Ted (UL) 6-3, 6-1
5. Stefan Szacinski (LSU) def. Pachon, Oscar (UL) 6-3, 6-3
6. Tom Knights (LSU) def. Alberton, Carl (UL) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. #27 Sebastian Carlsson/Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Murray, Carlin/Nilsson, Ted (UL) 8-2
2. Mandl, Yanick/Farine, Brandon (UL) def. Tom Knights/Mark Bowtell (LSU) 8-5
3. Roger Anderson/Stefan Szacinski (LSU) def. Alberton, Carl/Pachon, Oscar (UL) 8-4
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,4,6,2,1,5)
New Orleans vs LSU
Feb 08, 2011 at Baton Rouge, La.
W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium – 7 p.m.
#33 LSU 7, New Orleans 0
Singles competition
1. Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Benjamin Bouhana (UNO-M) 6-3, 6-4
2. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. Vinay Kamineni (UNO-M) 6-1, 6-0
3. Stefan Szacinski (LSU) def. Oliver Grimbly (UNO-M) 6-0, 6-1
4. Tom Knights (LSU) def. Hossam Meligy (UNO-M) 6-2, 6-2
5. David Roberts (LSU) def. Rohit Chivukula (UNO-M) 6-0, 6-0
6. Roger Anderson (LSU) def. No player (UNO-M), by forfeit
Doubles competition
1. Sebastian Carlsson/Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Benjamin Bouhana/Hossam Meligy (UNO-M) 8-1
2. Tom Knights/Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Vinay Kamineni/Rohit Chivukula (UNO-M) 8-2
3. John Michaelis/David Roberts (LSU) def. No player/No player (UNO-M), by forfeit
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,3,2,5,4,1)