PALO ALTO, Calif. – The eighth-ranked LSU men’s tennis doubles pair of senior Sebastian Carlsson and junior Neal Skupski posted a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Texas Tech’s Raony Carvalho and Rafael Garcia in the first round of 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Doubles Championships on Thursday at the Taube Tennis Center in Palo Alto, Calif.
With the victory, the Tiger tandem advances to the round of 16 to face Florida’s 17th-ranked Sekou Bangoura Jr. and Alexandre Lacroix, who defeated Cal’s 23rd-ranked Nick Andrews and Christoffer Konigsfeldt, 6-4, 7-5.
Friday’s match time is 4:30 p.m. CT.
The LSU duo started off strong by picking up an early break in the second game of the first set to take a 2-0 lead, and then held serve to take the first set 6-3. But Carvalho and Garcia wouldn’t go down without a fight as they battled back to notch a 6-3 victory of their own in the second set.
After a pair of breaks from both teams in the deciding third set, Carlsson and Skupski came through in the clutch with a service break up 5-4 to seal the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
“One of our main goals for today was to get off to a fast start because we knew Texas Tech was a streaky team,” LSU assistant coach Danny Bryan said. “I thought that was the difference in the match. We started off very strong and then they got hot in the second set, but we were able to hang around and pull it off in the end. Now we have to get focused for another tough match tomorrow.”
Skupski and Carlsson improve to 29-11 on the year with the victory, and earned revenge for an 8-1 loss to Carvalho and Garcia earlier in the season. The Texas Tech pair finish the spring at 12-12.
The win also marks the first time Skupski’s advanced to the second round at the NCAA Championships. In 2009 he paired with former Tiger standout Michael Venus in the Doubles Championships, and last season he traveled alone to compete in the 2010 Singles Championships but he fell in the first round of both.
Back in 2005, Neal Skupski‘s older brother Ken Skupski and his doubles partner Mark Growcott advanced to the championship match at the Doubles Championships before falling to Georgia’s John Isner and Antonio Ruiz in the finals.
Live scoring and video for tomorrow’s round of 16 match will be available at www.GoStanford.com.
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 Doubles Championships
Taube Tennis Center, Palo Alto, Calif.
May 26-30, 2011
First Round
#8 Neal Skupski/Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. #20 Raony Carvalho/Rafael Garcia (Texas Tech), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Second Round
#8 Neal Skupski/Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) vs. #17 Sekou Bangoura Jr./Alexandre Lacroix, Friday, TBD