AUBURN, Ala. – For the fourth time in the last five matches, the LSU men’s tennis team had a match come down to the wire on Sunday in Auburn where the purple and gold used clutch performances all over the lineup to earn a 4-3 victory. The win marks the second conference road victory of the season for LSU.
Despite head coach Jeff Brown‘s emphasis on taking an early lead with the doubles point before the match, the Tigers (16-5, 6-4 SEC) dropped only their fourth doubles point on the year to Auburn (14-10, 2-8 SEC) before sophomore Justin Butsch clinched the match for LSU on court four.
“Some days you have to dig real deep to win on the road and today was one of those days,” Brown said. “Justin [Butsch] showed great fight in the last match on and Simon [Freund] as a freshman to go along with a big win from Chris [Simpson] and solid work from Andrew [Korinek].”
Brown said having so many closely-contested Southeastern Conference matches as the season winds down serves as a growing opportunity for his team.
The Tigers will play their final home match of the season on Thursday when No. 8 Texas A&M travels to Baton Rouge for a 3 pm match.
For up-to-date information and behind-the-scenes access on the Tigers, fans can follow the LSU men’s tennis team on Twitter and Instagram at @lsutennis and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsutennis.
LSU vs Auburn Apr 05, 2015
at Auburn, Alabama (Yarbrough Tennis Center)
#25 LSU 4, #46 Auburn 3
Singles competition
1. Lukas Ollert (AU) def. Jordan Daigle (LSU) 6-2, 6-0
2. Chris Simpson (LSU) def. Marko Krickovic (AU) 6-3, 6-4
3. Maxime Hinnisdaels (AU) def. Boris Arias (LSU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
4. Justin Butsch (LSU) def. Dante Saleh (AU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4
5. Andrew Korinek (LSU) def. Joseph Van Dooren (AU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-1
6. Simon Freund (LSU) def. Petar Tomic (AU) 7-6, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Lukas Ollert/Marko Krickovic (AU) def. Jordan Daigle/Boris Arias (LSU) 6-4
2. Eric Perez/Tam Trinh (LSU) def. Maxime Hinnisdaels/Joseph Van Dooren (AU) 6-0
3. Oliver Plaskett/Petar Tomic (AU) def. Chris Simpson/Justin Butsch (LSU) 6-3
Match Notes:
LSU 16-5; National ranking #25
Auburn 14-10; National ranking #46
Order of finish:
Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (1,5,2,6,3,4)
Played outdoors
Senior Day for Auburn’s Lukas Ollert
T-3:20