ATHENS, Ga. — The 13th-seeded LSU men’s tennis team met a maroon colored roadblock in the opening round of the 2001 NCAA Championships on Saturday, as the Tigers fell to the fourth-seeded Texas A&M Aggies, 4-1, here in Athens, Ga.
“I have to give a lot of credit to A&M,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “They came out today and played very well in doubles and in some of the big points throughout the match they played better than we did. They also played very well in singles and were confident in a couple of positions.”
With the 15th-ranked Tigers trailing by a 3-1 deficit in the contest, Texas A&M’s No. 3 singles player, Keith From, dashed LSU’s hopes of advancing to the quartefinals by defeating junior Jesse Smatt, 7-6(4), 6-1, to clinch the victory. Smatt held the early momentum in the match but From fought late in the first set to force a tiebreak which he won 7-4.
“Smatt’s match on court No. 3 could’ve gone either way depending on that first set tiebreaker,” Brown said. “Jesse’s a fighter and a winner but From just hit some great shots out there today and did a good job of taking control of the match.”
The Tigers finished the season with an overall record of 16-8 and the team lost in the Sweet 16 for the second-straight season. Last year, LSU was defeated by Illinois, 4-3. The Aggies advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history and improved on the season to 27-3. Texas A&M will face the winner of fifth-seeded TCU and Southern California on Sunday at 10 a.m. (Central time).
In the opening match of the NCAA round of 16 here at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, Texas A&M jumped out to an early 1-0 lead over the Tigers as the Aggies’ 41st-ranked tandem of Cody Hubbell and Jarim Skube clinched the doubles point by defeating LSU’s team of Sanjin Sadovich and Jesse Smatt.
With the 8-3 victory, Texas A&M’s Hubbell and Skube claimed their eighth-straight win on court No. 3.
The seventh-ranked Aggies netted the first doubles victory of the contest on court No. 2, as the 25th-ranked combination of Tres Davis and Ryan Newport won its 15th-straight doubles match over LSU’s duo of Ajay Ramaswami and Anthony Mateljan. Davis and Newport improved to 23-2 dual record on the season, while LSU’s Ramaswami and Mateljan dropped to a 9-2 mark in dual matches.
Early in singles play, Texas A&M took a quick 2-0 overall advantage in the match as Tres Davis earned the Aggies’ initial singles victory on court No.6 with a 6-4, 6-2, win over LSU’s John Gray Pou. Pou was a late addition to the starting lineup in place of Anthony Mateljan. The substitution was due to a coaching decision and not an injury.
The teams then swapped points to make the score 3-1 as the Tigers’ 48th-ranked Dan Kiernan was victorious on court No. 2 and Texas A&M’s Hubbell notched a win in No. 5 singles.
Kiernan, LSU’s fiery junior from Newcastle, England, cruised to a 6-2, 6-4, win over the Aggies 100th-ranked Ryan Newport in No. 2 singles to earn the Tigers’ lone point of the contest. With the win, Kiernan improved to a phenomenal 25-8 overall record on the season and a near perfect 18-2 mark on court No. 2.
“College tennis is fun,” said Kiernan. “It’s a very competitive sport and I’ll be the first one to tell you that it gets to be a war out there. I really feed off the fans and sometimes their negative energy helps me out.”
On court No. 5, A&M’s Hubbell outplayed the Tigers’ talented freshman lefthander, Sadovich, to win by a score of 6-0, 6-2, on court No. 5.
NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships
Round of 16
May 19, 2001
Henry Feild Stadium
(4) Texas A&M 4, (13) LSU 1
Texas A&M Won Doubles Point, 2-0
1. Caradima/Madden (10) led Kiernan/Rutka (33), 6-5 suspended
2. Davis/Newport (25) def. Mateljan/Ramaswami, 8-5
3. Hubbell/Skube (42) def. Sadovich/Smatt, 8-3
Singles Order of Finish: #6, #2, #5, #3
1. Ajay Ramaswami (LSU) (12) led Shuon Madden (19), 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 suspended
2. Dan Kiernan (48) (LSU) def. Ryan Newport (100), 6-2, 6-4
3. Keith From (TAM) def. Jesse Smatt, 7-6 (4), 6-1
4. Dumitru Caradima (TAM) led Sebastian Rutka, 3-6, 6-1, 3-0
5. Cody Hubbell (TAM) def. Sanjin Sadovich, 6-0, 6-2
6. Tres Davis (TAM) def. John Gray Pou, 6-4, 6-2
Texas A&M advanced to face No. 5 seed TCU at 10 a.m. on Sunday.