BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU delivered a dominant performance on Sunday, sweeping South Alabama and Jackson State, 7-0, to wrap up its first weekend of the dual season.
LSU improved to 3-0 to begin its season. South Alabama suffered its first loss, falling to 1-1, while Jackson State begins its season 0-1.
“I was really pleased with how we started in doubles,” said Head Coach Danny Bryan. “We took a lot of positives from the Clemson match, and we were right back on track. In singles, we had a few guys who took care of business quickly, and then a couple others who had to find a way out to win. They did, and that’s what was good about today.
We were able to carry that momentum into the Jackson State match and play very solidly. We’re looking forward to next weekend. The guys will get tomorrow to rest up – it’s been a long four days with the travel plus emotional and physical matches. After a couple of good days of practice, we’ll look to have a great ITA Regional Kickoff in Arizona with some good teams. I’m excited to see what we can do.”
Match One
Erik Arutiunian and Matias Ponce de Leon took on the second spot against Juan Accossatto and Harold Raemdonck to open the day’s doubles play. Firing on all cylinders right out of the gate, they took an early 4-1 lead. Without losing momentum, the pair found their second straight win to begin the season with a 6-3 victory.
Court No. 3 held a similar story, with Rudy Ceccon and Enzo Kohlmann taking on Victor Frumholz and Adam Bouyacoub. After an equally convincing 4-1 start, the duo was able to let up one less game than on the court next to them. Ceccon and Kohlmann posted a 6-2 win to clinch the doubles points for the Tigers.
Heading into singles play, Arutiunian took on the top court and remained in high gear. Matched up against his doubles rival in Accossatto, he secured a perfect 6-0 opening set to continue his hot streak. He then earned an early break in the second set, preventing the redshirt senior from gaining a foothold in the match. The Belarus native logged a 6-3 second set to improve his singles record to 2-0 on the season.
Forcing an early break to start the match on court No. 5, Sasa Markovic prevented his opponent from having any chance of a first-set rally. After recording a 6-2 score to begin, he surged 4-0 ahead, seeking to put it away quickly. However, Bouyacoub fought, tallying up four more games before the sophomore put the match away with a 6-4 result.
Looking for his first singles win of the season, Ponce de Leon matched up against Deren Yigin in the fourth spot. The two battled back and forth to a 3-3 stalemate. It was then that the Tiger jumped ahead, stringing together three games to take the opener. A similar start took place in the following set, but Ponce de Leon stole a game late on that would seal the match for him. The Spaniard earned not only the clinching point for the team, but his first singles win in the purple and gold, recording a 6-4 second set.
Facing Frumholz for the second time in the day, Ceccon would go up a break early down on the sixth court. Trading games for the remainder of the set, he saw himself steal the opener with a 6-4 score. Continuing to apply the pressure, Ceccon rallied, earning six straight games and the set to give LSU their fifth point of the match.
Another Tiger searching for his first singles win on the season, Kohlmann took the No. 2 spot once more. After falling to a 0-1 deficit and trailing for almost half the set, the Brazilian surged ahead late in the set to steal it 6-4. Bouyacoub stuck with him, though. With not much separating them for most of the set, Kohlmann had a chance to serve for the match at 5-4. Unfortunately, he did not hold, but it only delayed his victory a couple more games, eventually coming out on top 7-5.
Loncarevic had a lengthy battle on court three today against Raemdonck. Both players remained on serve until late in the set, where the LSU Tiger would eventually steal a game, posting a 6-4 scoreline. Much of the same took place in the succeeding set, but this time they entered a tiebreak. After going down 2-5, Loncarevic tied it at 6-6. Although he was able to save two set points, it wasn’t enough to prevent a third-set tiebreak. Ultimately, the French national prevailed, registering a 10-8 score line to complete the sweep for LSU.
Match Two
Markovic and Loncarevic took on the top court once more, facing off against Federico Pickenstainer and Jhoan Vaquero of Jackson State. The LSU duo left their opponents in the dust after a 4-1 start. They then closed with a 6-2 victory to get the team one step closer to securing the doubles point.
Arutiunian and Ponce de Leon also battled alongside each other again on court two. On the opposite side of the court, Ching Chang Chiu and Hung-Yu Chen found themselves in a 3-0 hole early. They were unable to stop LSU’s firepower, as the duo remains undefeated on the season, clinching the doubles point for LSU once more, this time with a 6-2 scoreline.
Markovic dominated the first set against Chiu at the fifth spot, not dropping a game. He tallied four games in a row in the next set before letting up the lone game Chiu would get in the match. The Serbian secured consecutive games to put it away with a 6-1 scoreline.
Just after the team earned its first singles point of the match, Ceccon followed it up with the next on the sixth court. Grandly, he toppled Fabrizio Fallas with back-to-back 6-0 sets, setting up LSU one point away from clinching the match.
The freshman looked as comfortable as can be on the top court once more. Arutiunian let up only one game to Pickenstainer in the first set, taking it 6-1. After going down 0-1 to open the second, he rallied six straight games to match his first set scoreline of 6-1 and clinch the match for the Tigers.
Following a long-winded match in his last singles showing, Loncarevic sought to complete this one more swiftly. Matched up against Gokalp Ayar at the third spot, he did just that. Dropping just one game in his opening set, Loncarevic followed it with a flawless second set, ending his day with a 6-1, 6-0 victory to get the Tigers one step closer to another sweep.
Also coming off a match that lasted longer than he had hoped for, Kohlmann overpowered Vaquero on the No. 2 court, taking the first set 6-0. Full steam ahead, he pressed on, wrapping up his weekend with a more convincing win, logging a 6-2 second set.
En route to earning a winning singles record on the season, Ponce de Leon dueled Chiu. Continuing the theme for LSU today, he started just as strong as he finished. Winning both sets with a score of 6-2, the senior concluded the weekend with the second sweep of the day.
LSU hits the road next weekend for the ITA Kickoff Tournament. They will first take on Arizona on Jan. 24 at 3:00 p.m. CT at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center. The next day, the Tigers remain where they are to face off against either Florida State or Pepperdine, time TBA.
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LSU vs. South Alabama
Jan 18, 2026
LSU Tennis Complex
LSU 7, South Alabama 0
Singles competition
1. Erik Arutiunian (LSU) def. Juan Accossatto (USA) 6-0, 6-3
2. Enzo Kohlmann (LSU) def. Braden Hannig (USA) 6-4, 7-5
3. Andrej Loncarevic (LSU) def. Harold van Raemdonck (USA) 6-4, 6-7, 10-8
4. Matias Ponce De Leon (LSU) def. Deren Yigin (USA) 6-3, 6-4
5. Sasa Markovic (LSU) def. Adam Bouyacoub (USA) 6-2, 6-4
6. Rudy Ceccon (LSU) def. Victor Frumholz (USA) 6-4, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. Andrej Loncarevic/Sasa Markovic (LSU) vs. Braden Hannig/Deren Yigin (USA) 4-3, unfinished
2. Matias Ponce De Leon/Erik Arutiunian (LSU) def. Juan Accossatto/Harold van Raemdonck (USA) 6-3
3. Rudy Ceccon/Enzo Kohlmann (LSU) def. Victor Frumholz/Adam Bouyacoub (USA) 6-2
Match Notes:
South Alabama 1-1
LSU 2-0
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (1,5,4,6,2,3)
Official: Richie Weaver
LSU vs. Jackson State
Jan 18, 2026
LSU Tennis Complex
LSU 7, Jackson State 0
Singles competition
1. Erik Arutiunian (LSU) def. Pickenstainer, F. (JKST) 6-1, 6-1
2. Enzo Kohlmann (LSU) def. Vaquero, Jhoan (JKST) 6-0, 6-2
3. Andrej Loncarevic (LSU) def. Ayar, Gokalp (JKST) 6-1, 6-0
4. Matias Ponce De Leon (LSU) def. Chiu, Ching Chang (JKST) 6-2, 6-2
5. Sasa Markovic (LSU) def. Chen, Hung-Yu (JKST) 6-0, 6-1
6. Rudy Ceccon (LSU) def. Fallas, Fabrizio (JKST) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. Sasa Markovic/Andrej Loncarevic (LSU) def. Pickenstainer, F./Vaquero, Jhoan (JKST) 6-2
2. Erik Arutiunian/Matias Ponce De Leon (LSU) def. Chiu, Ching Chang/Chen, Hung-Yu (JKST) 6-2
3. Rudy Ceccon/Enzo Kohlmann (LSU) vs. Ayar, Gokalp/Fallas, Fabrizio (JKST) 5-1, unfinished
Match Notes:
Jackson State 0-1
LSU 3-0
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (5,6,1,3,2,4)
Official: Richie Weaver