The LSU men’s tennis team concluded a successful weekend Sunday afternoon, shutting out Nicholls State 7-0.
The match against Nicholls was originally supposed to be the second of a doubleheader, but the match against No. 12 Mississippi State was postponed until April 10 due to high winds.
LSU got off to a hot start against Nicholls after taking the doubles point and didn’t look back as all Tiger players won in straight sets.
In Friday’s match, LSU pulled off its second Southeastern Conference upset in a row, knocking off No. 7 Ole Miss in a tight contest at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
The Tigers started the day strong, taking the doubles point after the combination of sophomore Chris Simpson and senior Mark Bowtell defeated the Ole Miss duo of William Kallberg and Zach Wilder.
Senior Stefan Szacinski and freshman Tam Trinh pulled off the upset of the doubles matches, defeating the highly ranked Ole Miss pairing Stefan Lindmark and Johan Backstrom.
While the top half of the Tigers’ singles lineup struggled — both senior Olivier Borsos and Simpson were dispatched in straight sets — the bottom of LSU’s lineup performed well in the clutch. Borsos and Simpson were bested by the No. 14 and No. 13 ranked players in the nation, respectively.
Freshman Boris Arias finished off his match well after being forced into a first set tiebreaker. Arias won the second set 6-2, which tied the overall score of the match 3-3.
Senior Mark Bowtell took the reins from there. Bowtell lost his first set 3-6, but battled back to take the second set 6-4. The match went into a third set tiebreaker to determine the winner, and Bowtell proved to be too much for Ole Miss’ Johan Backstrom.
“Mark Bowtell’s victory has so many components to it from being out a year with the injury, and to clinch a match at this level is a real comeback,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “Just him coming back to the team was amazing, but for him to get back to this level is a real testament to what you can accomplish.”
Ole Miss represents the highest ranked opponent that LSU has beaten this season.
“Friday nights have been a little crazy for us when you throw in that win over No. 11 Texas A&M with the big victory for Boris Arias and now a big victory for Mark Bowtell over No. 7 Ole Miss,” Brown said. “We’re really looking to build on this and see if we can put two together. Last time we had the big win over Texas A&M, we didn’t handle it very well, so maybe we can turn that around.”
