BATON ROUGE — LSU freshmen tennis players Jason Hazley and Peter Richman led the Tigers to a thrilling 5-2 victory over Mississippi State on Friday in a match that came down to a pair of third-set tiebreakers.
“That was a big win for our team,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “I have to give a lot of credit to the guys for how hard they played and for their perseverance. Mississippi State has been known to fight back from some deficits, but our team stepped it up and played with a lot of heart out there.”
With the Tigers leading the match 3-2, LSU’s promising freshmen, Hazley and Richman, each battled simultaneously in third-set tiebreakers against their Mississippi State counterparts with the Southeastern Conference contest on the line.
Hazley, a native of Bradenton, Fla., took control of his match against Luiz Carvalho in the tiebreaker and clinched LSU’s first SEC victory of the season with a deciding 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1) win on court No. 3. With the crucial victory, Hazley upped his conference record to 5-3 on the season and improved his overall record to 20-13.
Shortly after Hazley’s heroics to secure the win, LSU’s Richman rallied to a 7-5 victory in the third-set tiebreaker to defeat the Bulldogs’ 78th-ranked Jerome Le Belicard on court No. 2. The 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-6(5) win snapped a four-match losing streak for Richman and marked his first victory over a ranked opponent this season. The native of Toronto, Canada owns a 16-16 overall record.
“I’m extremely proud of how our two freshmen closed out their matches today,” Brown said. “It just proves how much experience they have gained this season and how competitive they are. Even when things looked as though it wasn’t going their way, they played with confidence and made some tough shots.”
With the win, LSU improved to an overall record of 6-11 on the season and improved to a 1-8 mark against conference opponents. Mississippi State dropped to an even 9-9 record on the season and fell to a 2-7 mark in the SEC.
The Tigers earned an early 1-0 lead on Friday as the Tigers recorded victories on courts No. 2 and No. 3 to win the vital doubles point. LSU’s combination of Cory Ross and Sebastian Rutka notched an 8-4 victory over the Bulldogs’ duo of Aymeric Henou and Max Fomine on court No. 2, while the Tigers’ pair of Bryan Fisher and Jesse Smatt clinched the point, 8-5, on court No. 3.
In singles play, LSU increased its lead to 2-0 with a quick victory by Ross on court No. 6. The Tigers’ sophomore transfer from Baylor handily defeated Fomine in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1. LSU’s third point of the four-hour SEC battle came on court No. 5, as Fisher outlasted Mississippi State’s Henou, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
The LSU men’s tennis team will next be in action on Sunday, as the Tigers remain at home to face Ole Miss at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
LSU 5, Mississippi State 2
Doubles
1. #24 Ambert/Combette (MSU) def. Kiernan/Hazley (LSU), 8-3
2. Ross/Rutka (LSU) def. Henou/Fomine (MSU), 8-4
3. Fisher/Jesse Smatt (LSU) def. Le Belicard/Carvalho (MSU), 8-5*
Singles
1. #7 Romain Ambert (MSU) def. #89 Dan Kiernan (LSU), 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
2. Peter Richman (LSU) def. #78 Rene-Charles Combette (MSU), 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-6(5)
3. Jason Hazley (LSU) def. Luiz Carvalho (MSU), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1)*
4. Jerome Le Belicard (MSU) def. Sebastian Rutka (LSU), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
5. Bryan Fisher (LSU) def. Aymeric Henou (MSU), 7-5, 3-6, 6-3
6. Cory Ross (LSU) def. Max Fomine (MSU), 6-3, 6-1
Overall Records: LSU 6-11 (1-8), Mississippi State 9-9 (2-7)