ATHENS, Ga. — The ninth-ranked LSU men’s tennis team dropped its regular season finale on Sunday afternoon to the defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs, 6-0.
Despite the loss, LSU (18-4, 8-3 Southeastern Conference) remains the fourth-seed for next week s SEC Tournament held in Starkville, Miss.
“We didn’t play to our potential today,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “There wasn’t anyone to step up in their position with Tom (Hand) missing and provide a spark.”
Hand, LSU s highest ranked player at No. 19, missed his third straight match due to an injured ankle. LSU is 2-1 in that span.
Georgia (13-9, 7-4) opened the match by becoming only the second team all season, along with Florida, to win the doubles point against the Tigers.
The Bulldogs used wins at No. 1, where No. 16 Matias Boeker and Travis Parrott beat No. 17 Michal Chmela and Dan Kiernan 8-5, and No. 2, where Lesley Joseph and Adam Seri beat LSU s team of Ed Rubin and Anthony Mateljan 8-4 to earn the point.
From there, Georgia sealed the win quickly with singles wins at Nos. 2, 5 and 6.
On the remaining three courts, two Tigers were up a set and the third was in the final set before LSU had to leave due to travel arrangements.
LSU will be the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament which begins Thursday. The Tigers first match will be on Friday at 8 p.m. against the Georgia-Vanderbilt winner, which takes place on Thursday.
#32 Georgia 6, #8 LSU 0
April 16, 2000
Athens, Ga.
SINGLES
No. 1 – #22 Matias Boeker (UGA) def. #21 Michal Chmela (LSU), 6-7 (3), 3-0, ret.
No. 2 – #57 Adam Seri (UGA) def. Ajay Ramaswami (LSU), 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 – Dan Kiernan (LSU) vs. #58 Lesley Joseph, suspended
No. 4 – Travis Parrot (UGA) def. #100 Ed Rubin (LSU), 6-7 (5), 3-2, ret.
No. 5 – Nicolas Boeker (UGA) def. Jesse Smatt (LSU), 7-5, 6-4
No. 6 – Brandon Wagner (UGA) def. John Gray Pou (LSU), 6-2, 6-3
DOUBLES
No. 1 – #16 M. Boeker-Parrott (UGA) def. #17 Chmela-Kiernan (LSU), 8-6
No. 2 – Joseph-Seri (UGA) def. Rubin-Mateljan (LSU), 8-4
No. 3 – Ramaswami-Smatt (LSU) vs. N. Boeker-Wagner, suspended