COLLEGE STATION, Texas – A clutch three-set win from junior Mark Bowtell propelled the No. 34 LSU men’s tennis team past the 26th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers, 4-3, in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
With the win, the Tigers (12-13) will advance to the second round to face No. 9 Texas A&M, a 4-0 winner over Alcorn State. The second round match begins at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday.
The Hoosiers finish the season 24-7 with the loss, and are eliminated from the 64-team draw.
Indiana took an early 1-0 lead by capturing an extremely tight doubles point. The Hoosiers struck first as the No. 44 duo of Santiago Gruter and Jeremy Langer downed the eight-ranked Tiger tandem of senior Sebastian Carlsson and junior Neal Skupski 8-5 on Court 1. But LSU evened up the doubles courts as the sophomore duo of Roger Anderson and Stefan Szacinski notched an 8-6 win on Court 2 over Indiana’s Stephen Vogl and Josh MacTaggart.
The first point rested on the back-and-forth match on Court 3 between LSU’s Olivier Borsos and Julien Gauthier and Indiana’s Isade Juneau and Will Kendall. With Indiana serving up 7-6, Borsos and Gauthier fought off a pair of match points and eventually broke the Hoosier pair to tie the match 7-7. After both teams held serve the match was sent to a tiebreak at 8-8, where the Indiana duo outlasted the Tiger pair in the tiebreak 11-9, clinching the doubles point with a 9-8 (9) win.
The Tigers wouldn’t give up as they quickly turned the tide in singles by capturing first set wins on five out of six courts, and Gauthier tied the match at 1-1 as he dispatched the Hoosier’s Dimitrije Tasic 6-3, 6-3 on Court 6.
The Hoosiers would switch the momentum back on their side with a pair of simultaneous wins on Courts 2 and 3 to take a 3-1 lead. Szacinski couldn’t get it going against 109th-ranked MacTaggart, falling 6-4, 6-3 on Court 3 and Borsos couldn’t capitalize on a first set win as he fell 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 on Court 2.
LSU chipped back into the lead as Carlsson closed out his match on Court 4 against Juneau 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 to make the score 3-2, and Skupski tied the match at 3-3 with a straight-set 6-1, 7-6 (4) win on Court 1.
All eyes turned to Court 5, where Bowtell was in a back-and-forth battle with Vogl with the match on the line. The LSU junior took the first set 7-6 (6), but Vogl fought back with a 6-2 second set win. In the third and deciding set, Bowtell notched a clutch service break up 4-3, and then held serve to clinch the match 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3 and seal the 4-3 victory for the Tigers.
“That’s the kind of total team effort we’ve been building toward and talking about the entire year,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “It was very gratifying that it happened today in the biggest match of the year. We were able to turn the momentum in our favor after dropping a tough doubles point by winning five first sets in singles, and I believe ultimately that was the difference in the match. The team is excited to compete tomorrow against another very good team.”
The win marks the first time this season the Tigers won the match after failing to win the doubles point.
A victory tomorrow would land the Tigers in the round of 16 for the first time since 2007. Sweet 16 play begins May 19 in Palo Alto, Calif. LSU is now 29-26 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament.
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.
2011 NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament
First Round
College Station, Texas at George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
#34 LSU 4, #26 Indiana 3
Singles competition
1. #87 Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Jeremy Langer (IU) 6-1, 7-6 (7-4)
2. Santiago Gruter (IU) def. Olivier Borsos (LSU) 2-6, 6-1, 6-0
3. #109 Josh MacTaggart (IU) def. Stefan Szacinski (LSU) 6-4, 6-3
4. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. Isade Juneau (IU) 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
5. Mark Bowtell (LSU) def. Stephen Vogl (IU) 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 6-3
6. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Dimitrije Tasic (IU) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. #44 Santiago Gruter/Jeremy Langer (IU) def. #8 Sebastian Carlsson/Neal Skupski (LSU) 8-5
2. Roger Anderson/Stefan Szacinski (LSU) def. Stephen Vogl/Josh MacTaggart (IU) 8-6
3. Isade Juneau/Will Kendall (IU) def. Olivier Borsos/Julien Gauthier (LSU) 9-8 (11-9)
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (6,3,2,4,1,5)