BATON ROUGE – LSU men’s tennis Rafael Wagner and Joey Thomas defeated a top-25 opponent on the doubles courts as the Tigers amassed four singles victories and two doubles wins on Day 1 of the Ivy Plus Invitational and the John Breaux Cajun Classic Friday.
Competition in both events pick up Saturday morning with both singles and doubles matches.
Ivy Plus Invitational
In their first time competing as a pair, Wagner and Thomas were victorious against Dartmouth’s No. 21 David Horneffer and Charlie Broom, accumulating and 8-6 win at the Lenz Tennis Center in the first round of doubles in the Orange Gold draw.
The duo followed with a gritty match against the No. 8 pair in the nation, Jack Lin and William Matheson of Columbia but eventually fell, 8-7(5).
“The tournament at Princeton is very strong, and for our first matches of the year, there were some positives to build upon,” co-head coach Chris Brandi said. “Joey and Rafael’s doubles win was probably the highlight, but everyone had some good matches to find out what we need to work on. Tomorrow is another great opportunity for us to compete at a high level against very good competition.”
Agie Moreno and Boris Kozlov were the other Tiger pair with a doubles win in the first day of fall competition. The pair defeated Robert Siniakowicz and Roger Chou of Brown, 8-5.
In singles, Wagner defeated Princeton’s Damian Rodriguez, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, and freshman Daniel Moreno recorded his first career victory with a three-set thriller against Harvard’s Galen Lee, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Agie Moreno also recorded a singles victory with a straight-set, 6-1, 6-2 win against Dartmouth’s Casey Ross.
Cajun Classic
Due to rainy weather conditions, the Tigers were only able to play two rounds of singles. The doubles match scheduled between LSU’s Shane Monroe and Malik Bhatnagar and Oklahoma State’s Mathieu Scaglia and Maxim Tybar has been delayed until Saturday.
“It was a tough day for Malik and Shane,” co-head coach Andy Brandi said. “Both played very rusty, but hopefully as they play through the weekend, they will start finding their range.”
Monroe and Bhatnagar each fell in the opening round of singles play, but Bhatnagar rebounded in the first round of consolation singles with his first career singles victory in the Purple and Gold against UL-Lafayette’s Dominik Koenig, 6-1, 6-1.
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.
John Breaux Cajun Tennis Classic
Friday, September 21, 2018 at Lafayette, La. (Culotta Tennis Center)
Singles Round of 16
Elio Lago (UL-Lafayette) def. #42 Shane Monroe (LSU), 6-2, 7-6(7)
#114 Mathieu Scaglia (Oklahoma State) def. Malik Bhatnagar (LSU), 7-6(5), 6-4
Singles Consolation
Ilgiz Valiev (Texas Tech) def. #42 Shane Monroe (LSU), 6-4, 6-1
Malik Bhatnagar (LSU) def. Dominik Koenig (UL-Lafayette), 6-1, 6-1
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Singles Consolation Round 2
#42 Shane Monroe (LSU) vs. Jan Galka (UL-Lafayette), 9 a.m.
Malik Bhatnagar (LSU) vs. Ivan Yatsuk (South Florida), 9 a.m.
Doubles Quarterfinals
Shane Monroe/Malik Bhatnagar (LSU) vs. Mathieu Scaglia/Maxim Tybar (Oklahoma State)
Ivy Plus Invitational
Friday, September 21, 2018 at Princeton, N.J. (Lenz Tennis Center)
Singles
Tiger
Toby Boyer (Nebraska) def. Joey Thomas (LSU), 7-5, 6-4
Lenz
Rafael Wagner (LSU) def. Damian Rodriguez (Princeton), 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
Cordish
Alex Keyser (Columbia) def. Boris Kozlov (LSU), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
Nassau
Daniel Moreno (LSU) def. Galen Lee (Harvard), 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
Pagoda
Justin Barki (Princeton) def. Ruy Teixeira (LSU), 6-2, 6-2
Agie Moreno (LSU) def. Casey Ross (Dartmouth), 6-1, 6-2
Jadwin
Ethan Nittolo (Buffalo) def. Nick Watson (LSU), 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-6(5)
Doubles
Orange
Rafael Wagner/Joey Thomas (LSU) def. #21 David Horneffer/Charlie Broom (Dartmouth), 8-6
#8 Jack Lin/William Matheson (Columbia) def. Rafael Wagner/Joey Thomas (LSU), 8-7(5)
White
Ryan Cheng/Dylan King (Yale) def. Nick Watson/Daniel Moreno (LSU), 8-5
Gold
Agie Moreno/Boris Kozlov (LSU) def. Robert Siniakowicz/Roger Chou (Brown), 8-5
Edoardo Graziani/Kevin Zhu (Penn) def. Agie Moreno/Boris Kozlov (LSU), 8-4
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Singles
Lenz Gold
Roger Chou (Brown) vs. Rafael Wagner (LSU), 8:30 a.m.
Nassau Gold
Daniel Moreno (LSU) vs. Hao Sheng Koay (Buffalo), 10 a.m.
Pagoda Gold
Noah Makarome (Penn) vs. Agie Moreno (LSU), 10 a.m.
Tiger Red
Joey Thomas (LSU) vs. Jochen Bertsch (Oklahoma), 8:30 a.m.
Cordish Red
Boris Kozlov (LSU) vs. Vlad Lobak (Minnesota), 10 a.m.
Pagoda Red
Ruy Teixiera (LSU) vs. Chris Morrow (Harvard), 8:30 a.m.
Jadwin Red
Joseph McAllister (Cornell) vs. Nick Watson (LSU), 10 a.m.
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Doubles
Orange Gold
Brian Shi/Logan Weber (Harvard) vs. Rafael Wagner/Joey Thomas (LSU), 8:30 a.m.
Gold Gold
Justin Barki/Bill Duo (Princeton) vs. Agie Moreno/Boris Kozlov (LSU), 8:30 a.m.
White Red
Nick Watson/Daniel Moreno (LSU) vs. Jack Winkler/Davis Wong (Michigan State), 8:30 a.m.