PALO ALTO, Calif. – The eighth-ranked LSU men’s tennis doubles pair of senior Sebastian Carlsson and junior Neal Skupski dropped a tough 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 decision to Florida’s 17th-ranked Sekou Bangoura Jr. and Alexandre Lacroix in the second round of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Doubles Championships on Friday at Stanford’s Taube Tennis Center.
With the victory the Florida pair advance to the quarterfinals tomorrow, while Skupski and Carlsson are eliminated from the 32-team draw with the loss.
Bangoura Jr. and Lacroix came out strong with a pair of early service breaks to take the first set 6-2, and in the second set both teams held serve throughout, but it was Skupski and Carlsson who picked up the crucial break up 6-5 to win the set by a 7-5 margin.
The third set played out much like the second with neither team wanting to budge. With the deciding set tied 5-5, the Gator duo earned a break and then held serve to seal the set and clinch the match 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.
“We’ve struggled with this team in the past and I thought we came out pressing a little bit and spotted them a set early,” LSU assistant coach Danny Bryan said. “Then we got it going in the second and we had a couple chances to go up a game in the third, but it just didn’t go our way.”
This was the second meeting of the season between the two doubles pairs, as Lacroix and Bangoura Jr. defeated Skupski and Carlsson 8-6 earlier this year in Gainesville, Fla.
Skupski and Carlsson finish the season with a 29-12 record, and will be automatic ITA All-Americans due to their No. 8 national ranking.
This match also caps an outstanding four-year career for Carlsson, a senior from Uppsala, Sweden. A four-year letter winner and two-year team captain, Carlsson finishes with 85 singles wins to go along with 79 doubles victories. His 85 singles wins ties him for 13th on LSU’s all-time singles wins list.
“This is a tough one because it’s sad to (Sebastian Carlsson) end his career at LSU,” Bryan said. “He’s meant so much to the program over the last four years. He’s the complete package as a great student athlete both on the courts and in the classroom, and now he’s an All-American both academically and athletically. In this match he went out fighting just like he always has his entire career.”
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2011 NCAA Doubles Championships
Taube Tennis Center, Palo Alto, Calif.
May 26-30, 2011
Second Round
#17 Sekou Bangoura Jr./Alexandre Lacroix (UF) def. #8 Neal Skupski/Sebastian Carlsson (LSU), 6-2, 5-7, 7-5
First Round (May 26)
#8 Neal Skupski/Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. #20 Raony Carvalho/Rafael Garcia (Texas Tech), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4