BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s tennis team picked up a pair of singles wins, but top-ranked Virginia proved to be too much as the Tigers fell to the Cavaliers 5-2 on Wednesday afternoon at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
It was the first home loss for the Tigers (4-7) this season, while the Cavaliers improved their perfect record to 15-0 with the win.
“Even though we weren’t able to win we got plenty out of this match,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “We gained confidence at several positions, and now we’re looking forward to a pair of tough home SEC matches this weekend.”
In doubles, Virginia swept all three matches to capture the doubles point. The 17th-ranked Tiger tandem of senior Sebastian Carlsson and junior Neal Skupski met defeat 8-4 to Virginia’s Michael Shabaz and Drew Courtney, the No. 2 doubles team in the nation. The loss was just the third of the season for the Tiger pair, who are now 8-3 on the year.
In singles, Carlsson and with fellow senior Julien Gauthier picked up the only two wins for the Tigers, and both were against ranked opponents.
Gauthier notched a 6-4, 6-4 win over Virginia’s 85th-ranked Julen Uriguen on Court 5 to earn his first ranked victory of the season, while Carlsson edged out No. 31 Jarmere Jenkins in a third-set tiebreak 1-6, 6-5, (10-7) at No. 4 doubles.
The two points were the most scored on the Cavaliers this season, as they had either swept or given up only one point in their previous 14 matches.
LSU is now 0-2 all-time against Virginia after the Cavs swept the Tigers 7-0 last season in Charlottesville, Va.
The Tigers will now turn their attention back to SEC play as SEC West foes Ole Miss and Mississippi State will travel to Baton Rouge this weekend. LSU will face-off against the Rebels at 3 p.m. CST on Friday, and the match against the Bulldogs is slated for 1 p.m. on Sunday.
For up-to-date information and behind the scenes access to the Tigers, fans can follow the LSU men’s team on Twitter @lsutennis and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsutennis.
#1 Virginia 5, #56 LSU 2
Singles competition
1. #10 Michael Shabaz (UVA) def. #69 Neal Skupski (LSU) 6-3, 6-2
2. #2 Alex Domijan (UVA) def. Stefan Szacinski (LSU) 6-2, 6-4
3. #18 Sanam Singh (UVA) def. Mark Bowtell (LSU) 7-5, 6-1
4. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. #31 Jarmere Jenkins (UVA) 1-6, 6-5, 1-0 (10-7)
5. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. #85 Julen Uriguen (UVA) 6-4, 6-4
6. Justin Shane (UVA) def. Tom Knights (LSU) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #2 Michael Shabaz/Drew Courtney (UVA) def. #17 Sebastian Carlsson/Neal Skupski (LSU) 8-4
2. Sanam Singh/Jarmere Jenkins (UVA) def. Stefan Szacinski/Roger Anderson (LSU) 8-2
3. Alex Domijan/Steven Rooda (UVA) def. Julien Gauthier/Tom Knights (LSU) 8-2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,5,1,2,3,4)