BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team picked up a resounding 5-2 victory over the 23rd-ranked South Florida Bulls on Saturday at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“This was definitely a hard-fought win for us today,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “Every one of our players kept plugging and never caved in to their opponent. I was extremely proud of how we fought, how we competed and how we never gave up. I think that some of our younger players are gaining confidence and we just need to continue getting better.”
With the overall score of the match knotted at 2-2, LSU’s Cory Ross dominated the third set of his match against the Bulls’ Jorge Escallon, 6-2, to give the Tigers a 3-2 advantage in the non-conference contest. Ross, a sophomore from Littleton, Colo., improved to 3-4 on the season with the clutch 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-2 win.
LSU’s 87th-ranked Dan Kiernan single-handedly turned the momentum of the match in favor of the Tigers during a vital win on court No. 1.
After dropping a first-set tiebreaker, 7-5, Kiernan found himself up against match point on court No. 1 versus South Florida’s Dan McCain. The Tigers’ senior captain from Newcastle, England, was trailing 9-8 in the second-set tiebreaker before he painted a second serve down the center line to bring the score to 9-9 and to stave off the loss. Kiernan then fed off of the excitement of the fans and cruised to a 6-7(5), 7-6(9), 6-0 match-clinching victory.
The Tigers improved to an overall record of 5-8 on the season and won its second-consecutive non-conference battle. LSU breezed by Southern Miss, 6-1, on Thursday. With the loss, the No. 23-ranked Bulls dropped to a 12-3 overall mark and snapped a nine-game winning streak.
“This was a much-needed quality win for us,” Brown said. “We don’t have any bad losses this season and a huge win like this one will really help as a confidence builder. It was important for us to get a win today, and now we need to remember what it took to get to this point.”
LSU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in Saturday’s contest as the Tigers eased by South Florida in doubles play. LSU won on all three courts and picked up victories from the tandem of Kiernan and Jason Hazley on court No. 1, the combination of Sebastian Rutka and Ross on court No. 2 and the team of Bryan Fisher and Brandon Nicholson on court No. 3.
In singles play, LSU’s talented sophomores, Fisher and Rutka, notched huge wins for the Tigers on courts No. 4 and No. 5. Rutka, a native of Krakow, Poland, overcame a first-set deficit to finish off South Florida’s Nadim Naser, 2-6, 6-4, 6-0, on court No. 5. Fisher then upped his overall record on the season to 16-13 by outlasting the Bulls’ Uhi Kiendl in a marathon three-set contest on No. 4, 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-6(4).
The Tiger tennis team remained undefeated against South Florida and increased its lead in the all-time series to 5-0. The 23rd-ranked Bulls will look to regroup against Miami in their next match on April 6.
The LSU men’s tennis team will next be in action on Friday, March 29, as the Tigers travel to Nashville, Tenn., for a Southeastern Conference showdown with Vanderbilt at 10 a.m.
LSU 5, #23 South Florida 2
Doubles
1. Kiernan/Hazley (LSU) def. Antello/Kiendl (USF), 8-2
2. Rutka/Ross (LSU) def. Wetzel/McCain (USF), 8-3
3. Fisher/Brandon Nicholson (LSU) def. Naser/Escallon (USF), 9-8(4)
Singles
1. #87 Dan Kiernan (LSU) def. Dan McCain (USF), 6-7(5), 7-6(9), 6-0/
2. #79 Martin Wetzel (USF) def. Peter Richman (LSU), 6-3, 6-4
3. Paco Antello (USF) def. Jason Hazley (LSU), 6-0, 6-4
4. Bryan Fisher (LSU) def. Uhi Kiendl (USF), 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-6(4)
5. Sebastian Rutka (LSU) def. Nadim Naser (USF), 2-6, 6-4, 6-0
6. Cory Ross (LSU) def. Jorge Escallon (USF), 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-2
Overall records: LSU 5-8, South Florida 12-3