HOUSTON — The No. 33 LSU men’s tennis team defeated the 39th-ranked Rice Owls 5-2 in the first dual match of the Tigers’ season Sunday at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium in Houston, Texas.
LSU (1-0) got off to a 1-0 lead in the match by sweeping all three doubles matches, and the Tigers captured four of six singles matches to secure the victory in the season opener.
All seven of the Tigers who played picked up a win either in singles or doubles play against the Owls.
“We picked up a good road win today over Rice,” head coach Jeff Brown said. “The road now leads to Berkeley for the ITA Kickoff with Cal on Sunday and either San Diego or Minnesota Monday. Overall, I am very pleased with our performance today.”
In doubles, the No. 28-ranked duo of Olivier Borsos and Chris Simpson took care of business, claiming an 8-5 win over Rice’s Justin To and Harry Fowler on court one.
On courts two and three, the Tiger tandems of Roger Anderson and Stefan Szacinski, and Neal Skupski and James Turbervill tacked on two more doubles wins to secure the match in LSU’s favor.
In singles, 68th-ranked Olivier Borsos started it off right for the Tigers, capturing the first singles point of the match in a straight-set fashion over Fowler 6-4, 6-2 on court one.
On court two, senior Neal Skupski picked up a straight-set victory over Rice’s Peter Frank 7-5, 6-2 to give LSU a 3-0 lead in the match.
Rice (2-1) cut the Tigers’ lead to 3-1 when Michael Nuesslein defeated James Turbervill 7-6, 6-2 on court six.
Simpson clinched the match for LSU by beating Sam Garforth-Bles 7-6, 6-4 on court three.
Senior Tom Knights stretched the lead to 5-1 for the Tigers, producing a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Philipp Seifert at the No. 5 position.
Szacinski fought hard and pushed his match to three sets before falling 6-0, 6-7, 6-3 to Rice’s Jonathan Chang to provide the final margin of the match.
The Tigers will travel to Berkeley, Calif. to participate in the ITA Kickoff Weekend. They will open the first round at noon CT on Jan. 29 against the University of California.
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Rice
Houston, TX (Jake Hess Tennis Stadium)
January 22, 2012
FINAL
LSU def. Rice (5-2)
SINGLES
Court 1
#68 Olivier Borsos (LSU) def. Harry Fowler (Rice) 6-4, 6-2
Court 2
Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Peter Frank (Rice) 7-5, 6-2
Court 3
Chris Simpson (LSU) def. Sam Garforth-Bles (Rice) 7-6, 6-4
Court 4
Jonathan Chang (Rice) def. Stefan Szacinski (LSU) 6-0, 6-7, 6-3
Court 5
Tom Knights (LSU) def. Philipp Seifert (Rice) 7-6, 6-3
Court 6
Michael Nuesslein (Rice) def. James Turbervill (LSU) 7-6, 6-2
DOUBLES
#28 Olivier Borsos/Chris Simpson (LSU) def. Harry Fowler/Justin To (Rice) 8-5
Roger Anderson/Stefan Szacinski (LSU) def. Christian Saravia/Michael Nuesslein (Rice) 8-7
Neal Skupski/James Turbervill (LSU) def. Leif Berger/Sam Garforth-Bles (Rice) 8-2