BATON ROUGE — The sixth-ranked LSU men’s tennis team won its fourth straight match on Saturday with a 6-1 victory over 33rd-ranked South Alabama.
The Tigers improve to 8-1 on the season while the Jaguars fall to 10-7 overall.
“This was one of our better performances as a team,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We played well all the way up and down the line up to get a quality win over a good South Alabama team.”
LSU began the match by sweeping the three doubles matches to earn the point and take a 1-0 lead. By winning the doubles point, the Tigers kept alive their school record streak of having won the point in 21 consecutive matches.
Singles action was dominated by the Tigers as LSU won five of the six matches, three of which came in straight sets.
Senior Michal Chmela was first off the court with a quick 6-3, 6-3 victory over Christian Thall at No. 2 singles. Fellow seniorTom Hand followed shortly with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Julian Reynal at No. 1.
Sophomore Dan Kiernan then clinched the match with his 6-4, 6-4 win over Zak Lahmar at the No. 3 position.
Following a loss at on court five, LSU finished up with two three-set wins on courts four and six.
Ajay Ramaswami battled back from one set down to beat Kosta Zinchanka 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 at No. 6. Ed Rubin then finished the match with his 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 win over Paul McInerny at No. 4.
“I think this win helps us get prepared for the SEC season ahead. We have continued to improve over the past few weeks and we should be in good shape for the conference schedule,” said Brown.
LSU is next in action when it will host No. 7 Florida in a Southeastern Conference battle on Tuesday March 14 at 2 p.m.
#6 LSU 6, #33 South Alabama 1
March 11, 2000
Baton Rouge, La.
SINGLES
No. 1 – #21 Tom Hand (LSU) def. Julian Reynal (USA), 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 – #27 Michal Chmela (LSU) def. Christian Thall (USM), 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 – Dan Kiernan (LSU) def. Zak Lahmar (USA), 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 – Ed Rubin (LSU) def. Paul McInerny (USA), 6-4, 1-6, 7-5
No. 5 – Zlatko Supavsky (USA) def. Jesse Smatt (LSU), 6-3, 7-6 (8)
No. 6 – Ajay Ramaswami (LSU) def. Kosta Zinchanka (USA), 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
DOUBLES
No. 1 – Kiernan-Chmela (LSU) def. Lahmar-McInerny (USA), 8-1
No. 2 – Hand-Rubin (LSU) def. Reynal-Baudet (USA), 8-5
No. 3 – Ramaswami-Smatt (LSU) def. Thall-Zinchanka (USA), 9-7