COLUMBIA, SC – The No. 25 LSU Men’s Tennis team (11-1, 1-0 SEC) defeated No. 16 South Carolina (6-6, 0-1 SEC) by a score of 4-2 on Friday, March 1 at the Carolina Tennis Center.
The win is the second straight Top 25 road win for the Tigers, who defeated then-No. 25 Memphis by a score of 4-3 last week in Memphis.
Danny Bryan’s Thoughts
“Another amazing college tennis match with so many momentum shifts,” said head coach Danny Bryan. “ All three doubles matches went to a tiebreaker. On court three, Chen and Julien were down four match points at 5-6. They did a great job of finding a way to hold serve, and then played a very good breaker. George and Welsh clinched it for us like they have so many times this season.”
“In singles, we got off to a very good start winning four first sets. In the second sets, South Carolina made a push like we knew they would, but our guys stayed composed. George (Stoupe) was terrific in the third set, closing the match out for us.”
Doubles
The Tigers had an exciting start to today’s match by taking the doubles point. On the No. 3 court, Chen Dong and Julien Penzlin faced Jelani Sarr and Sean Daryabeigi. The LSU duo went to a tiebreaker, winning 7-6(4). Dong and Penzlin have made five appearances together so far this dual season and have a perfect record of 5-0 with all five wins being on the No. 3 court.
On the No. 1 doubles court, Stefan Latinovic and Aleksi Lofman fell to the No. 9-ranked duo of Toby Samuel and Casey Hoole. The teams played out a tight match to a tiebreaker, but the South Carolina duo narrowly won by a score of 7-6(9-7).
On the No. 2 court, Welsh Hotard and George Stoupe clinched the doubles point for the Tigers. The match was a close one, but the LSU pair defeated Lucas da Silva and James Story by a score of 7-6(5).
Singles
LSU went home with a ranked team win and several ranked singles wins. Alessio Vasquez earned the first ranked singles win of the match. Vasquez defeated No. 120 Jelani Sarr in two quick sets at the No. 4 court. He won 6-2, 6-2, to give LSU a 2-0 lead in the match.
On the No. 3 court, Aleksi Lofman fell to James Story by a score of 6-3, 6-4 as the Gamecocks made it 2-1 in the match.
Stefan Latinovic appeared on the No. 1 court against No. 71-ranked Toby Samuel. Latinovic fell to Samuel 6-3, 6-4 and South Carolina tied the match up at 2-2.
Julien Penzlin continued his impressive singles season in Friday’s match. He faced Lucas da Silva on the No. 5 court, moving up from his normal No. 6 court. Penzlin narrowly won the match by a score of 6-4, 7-5. The win made it 3-2 in the match and the win improved his dual record to a perfect 10-0.
On the No. 2 court, George Stoupe earned the second ranked singles win of the night against No. 106 Casey Hoole in three sets. Stoupe narrowly won the first set 6-4. In the second set, Hoole won 6-3 and forced a third. The third set was taken by Stoupe by a score of 6-3 to clinch the match for the Tigers and give LSU a Top 25 road win to open SEC play. With the win, Stoupe’s singles record improved to 6-3.
Up Next
The Tigers will travel to Gainesville, Florida to face the Gators on Sunday, March 3. The match will begin at 11 a.m. at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
Results
#25 LSU 4, #16 SC 2
Doubles
1. #9 Samuel/Hoole (SC) def. Latinovic/Lofman (LSU) 7-6(9-7)
2. Hotard/Stoupe (LSU) def. Silva/Story (SC) 7-6(7-5)
3. Dong/Penzlin (LSU) def. Sarr/Daryabeigi (SC) 7-6(7-4)
Singles
1. #71 Toby Samuel (SC) def. Stefan Latinovic (LSU) 6-3, 6-4
2. #122 George Stoupe (LSU) def. #106 Casey Hoole (SC) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
3. James Story (SC) def. Aleksi Lofman (LSU) 6-3, 6-4
4. Alessio Vasquez (LSU) def. #120 Jelani Sarr (SC) 6-2, 6-2
5. Julien Penzlin (LSU) def. Lucas da Silva (SC) 6-4, 7-5
6. Sean Daryabeigi (SC) vs. Rudy Ceccon (LSU) 2-6, 6-3, 5-4, unfinished
Match Notes
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (4,3,1,5,2)
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