TULSA, Okla. – LSU men’s tennis pair Jordan Daigle and Boris Arias defeated No. 25 Columbia’s Shawn Hadavi and Richard Pham, 6-3, 6-2, in the opening round of the NCAA Doubles Championships Thursday evening at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
With the win, the sixth-ranked tandem has advanced to the round of 16 and will face Wake Forest’s Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim, who defeated Arkansas’ Giammarco Micolani and Mike Redlicki by a score of 7-6 (4), 6-3, beginning at 2:30 p.m. Friday.
“We played at a high level today,” head coach Jeff Brown said. “Boris and Jordan worked hard on each other’s serve and made a ton of returns. There was no let up, and that is the key now that we are playing best 2-out-of-3 sets.”
The win marks the second straight season that Daigle and Arias will compete in the second round of the doubles championships after they defeated UCLA’s No. 12 pair of Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki in 2015.
The duo improved to 16-10 overall with the win today. Wake Forest’s Mansouri and Seraphim have an overall record of 22-14.
Arias and Daigle have notched 30 career wins over their two seasons together, including three career victories against the No. 1 team in the nation. Arias and Daigle have seven total victories against top-20 opponents.
Two of the wins against the No. 1 ranked doubles team in the country came this season after Arias and Daigle defeated Georgia’s Austin Smith and Ben Wagland and Florida’s Gordan Watson and Diego Hidalgo of Florida.
The winner of Friday’s match will advance to face either Texas A&M’s Arthur Rinderknech and Jackson Withrow or Texas Tech’s Hugo Dojas and Felipe Soares in the quarterfinals Saturday.
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.
NCAA Individual Tournament
May 25-30, 2016 at Tulsa, Okla. (Michael D. Case Tennis Center)
Thursday, May 26
Doubles
First Round – Round of 32
#6 [5-8] Boris Arias/Jordan Daigle (LSU) def. #25 Shawn Hadavi/Richard Pham (Columbia), 6-3, 6-2
Friday, May 27
Second Round – Round of 16
#6 Boris Arias/Jordan Daigle (LSU) vs. #13 Christian Seraphim/Skander Masouri (Wake Forest), 2:00 p.m. CT