BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s tennis team used a total team effort Sunday afternoon to pick up its first dual match win of the season, taking down 29th-ranked Rice 5-2 in front of a home crowd at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
With the win, the Tigers are now 14-0 all-time under head coach Jeff Brown in home-openers.
“It was a complete team effort today,” Brown said. “Not only winning the doubles point, but guys fighting back in singles after dropping their first sets to keep the pressure off of the guys who won their first sets. That’s the dynamic of a college tennis match and it was nice to do it in front of a home crowd. It was a great win for the team, and we look forward to playing at home again on Tuesday.”
For the second-straight match the Tigers (1-2) captured the doubles point to take an early 1-0 lead. After Rice (5-2) took the first doubles match on court two, the No. 27 doubles duo of Neal Skupski and Sebastian Carlsson clinched an 8-2 win over Rice’s Christian Saravia and Michael Nuesslein on court one to even the score.
The Tiger tandem of Roger Anderson and Olivier Borsos then sealed the doubles point for LSU on court three, taking down Rice’s Sam Garford-Bles and Peter Frank 8-4.
In singles play, senior Julien Gauthier was first off the courts for the Tigers with a straight-set victory over Saravia 6-1, 7-6 (6) on court five to give LSU a 2-0 advantage. Borsos followed soon after on court two as he finished off Frank 6-2, 7-6 (4) to put LSU up 3-0 overall.
Rice’s Harry Fowler, ranked No. 44 in the nation in singles, gave the Owls their first point of the match as he edged out Skupski on court one 7-5, 7-6(8). The victory for the Owls was short lived however, as Carlsson notched a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, win over Garford-Bles on court three to seal the victory for LSU, 4-1.
Even though the match was already decided, the final two singles matches were completed. Junior Mark Bowtell knocked-off Rice’s Philipp Seifert 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 on court four, and Podlewski edged out LSU’s Tom Knights on court six 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2) to put the final score at 5-2.
With the victory, the Tigers are now 15-16-2 all-time against the Owls.
LSU will return to action on Tuesday at the “Dub” in a doubleheader against in-state opponents UL-Lafayette and UNO. The Tigers will square-off with the Ragin’ Cajuns at 3 p.m. CST and the match against the Privateers is slated for a 7 p.m. start.
No. 46 LSU 5, No. 29 Rice 2
Singles
1. #44 Harry Fowler (Rice) def. Neal Skupski (LSU), 7-5, 7-6(8)
2. Olivier Borsos (LSU) def. Peter Frank (Rice), 6-2, 7-6(4)
3. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. Sam Garford-Bles (Rice), 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
4. #102 Mark Bowtell (LSU) def. #121 Philipp Seifert (Rice), 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4
5. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Christian Saravia (Rice), 6-1, 7-6
6. Oscar Podlewski (Rice) def. Tom Knights (LSU), 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-6(2)
Doubles
1. #27 Sebastian Carlsson/Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Christian Saravia/Michael Nuesslein (Rice), 8-2
2. Oscar Podlewski/Harry Fowler (Rice) def. Tom Knights/Stefan Szacinski (LSU), 8-3
3. Roger Anderson/Olivier Borsos (LSU) def. Sam Garford-Bles/Peter Frank (Rice), 8-4
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (5,2,1,3,4,6)