BATON ROUGE – A gutsy performance by LSU senior co-captain Sebastian Carlsson helped the LSU men’s tennis team earn its highest ranked victory in nearly three years, as the Tigers posted a thrilling 5-2 win over No. 16 Michigan on Thursday afternoon at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
It was the highest ranked win for the Tigers since March 30, 2008, when LSU defeated eighth-ranked Florida 4-3 at the “Dub.”
LSU started off the afternoon strong by capturing the doubles point to take an early 1-0 lead. The Tiger duo of sophomores Roger Anderson and Stefan Szacinski fell behind early, but rallied to be the first ones off the courts with an 8-5 victory over Michigan’s Chris Madden and Barrett Franks on Court 2.
The 12th-ranked LSU pair of Carlsson and junior Neal Skupski then clinched the point at the top doubles spot, posting an 8-6 win over the No. 18 Michigan duo of Jason Jung and Evan King. It was the fifth ranked win for the Tiger tandem, who improves to 11-3 on the top doubles court and 8-2 in their last 10 matches. The doubles match on Court 3 between LSU’s Julien Gauthier and Olivier Borsos and Michigan’s Chris Cha and Shaun Bernstein was left unfinished.
The Tigers wouldn’t let up in singles competition as a pair of fast singles wins quickly put LSU up 3-0.
Szacinski cruised past Michigan’s Shaun Bernstein in straight-sets 6-2, 6-1 on Court 3, and Ireland native Mark Bowtell made quick work of Justin Rossi 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5 singles.
The Wolverines wouldn’t give up without a fight as 20th-ranked King cut the lead to 3-1 by downing Skupski 6-3, 6-3 at the top singles spot.
With Gauthier and Borsos both in third set battles on their respective courts, all eyes were on Carlsson on Court 4 to close it out against Franks. Carlsson was injured towards the end of his doubles match, and it was unclear if he was even going to be able to compete in singles. But the Uppsala, Sweden, native gutted it out and took the courts, where he captured the first set 6-4.
With the back-and-forth second set deadlocked at 6-6, Carlsson once again proved to be clutch as he won the tiebreak and the match 6-4, 7-6 (5) to clinch the victory for the Tigers. It was Carlsson’s third match-clinching win of the season, as he also posted the deciding wins against both Rice and Ole Miss earlier this year.
With the match in hand, Gauthier tallied a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over Chris Madden on Court 6, and Borsos dropped a tough three-setter to 60th-ranked Jung 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 on Court 2 to put the final score at 5-2.
“‘The Gipper’ won one for himself today,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “We didn’t even know if Sebastian was going to be able to play in singles, but as tough as he is he not only played but also clinched the match for us. Mark and Stefan set the table for us by getting their fast wins, and finding a way to win the doubles point was also equally as important.”
With the win LSU improves to 6-8 (2-2 SEC) on the season and 4-0 all-time against Michigan, while the loss drops the Wolverines to 7-5 overall and snaps their four-match road winning streak.
The Tigers will now hit the road for a tough matchup with No. 8 Georgia on Saturday at Noon CDT in Athens, Ga.
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.
#44 LSU 5, #16 Michigan 2
Singles competition
1. #20 Evan King (MICHIGAN) def. #92 Neal Skupski (LSU) 6-3, 6-3
2. #60 Jason Jung (MICHIGAN) def. Olivier Borsos (LSU) 2-6, 7-5, 6-4
3. Stefan Szacinski (LSU) def. Shaun Bernstein (MICHIGAN) 6-2, 6-1
4. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. Barrett Franks (MICHIGAN) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
5. Mark Bowtell (LSU) def. Justin Rossi (MICHIGAN) 6-1, 6-2
6. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Chris Madden (MICHIGAN) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. #12 Sebastian Carlsson/Neal Skupski (LSU) def. #18 Jason Jung/Evan King (MICHIGAN) 8-6
2. Stefan Szacinski/Roger Anderson (LSU) def. Chris Madden/Barrett Franks (MICHIGAN) 8-5
3. Olivier Borsos/Julien Gauthier (LSU) vs. Chris Cha/Shaun Bernstein (MICHIGAN) 8-7, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,5,1,4,6,2)