The LSU men’s tennis team scored a dominant win Monday to open its season, topping Southern Mississippi 6-1.
The Tigers opened the day by taking a commanding lead in the doubles matches.
The duo of senior Stefan Szacinski and sophomore Chris Simpson hit the ground running, winning 8-1.
“We try to focus on the receiving part of the game because neither of us are very big servers,” Simpson said. “We just concentrated all the way today.”
Not long after, senior Roger Anderson and freshman Tam Trinh took down Vasco Valverde and Benjamin Feldman 8-3, earning LSU the doubles point.
Shortly after the start of singles play, senior Mark Bowtell extended the Tigers’ lead by dispatching his opponent, 6-1, 6-1.
The rest of the Tigers did not have as easy a time. Four LSU players fell behind in their opening sets, with both Simpson and Trinh dropping theirs 3-6 and 2-6, respectively.
Szacinski struggled to keep pace with Benjamin Feldman, but battled back and eventually won the set in a 7-6 tiebreaker. Not five minutes later, Anderson won his own hard-earned tiebreak.
“Especially with us two, we are seniors, so we have to lead the team,” Szacinski said. “It was quite important for us to edge those tiebreaks out because it could’ve changed the dynamic for the match.”
Szacinski carried that momentum into the second set to win 7-6, 6-2, and was followed by Anderson notching a 7-6, 6-4 victory.
With those two points, the Tigers clinched the match with a score of 4-0.
Simpson quickly took over his match, utilizing his superior fitness to outlast Andrew Goodwin 2-6, 6-0, 6-2. Trinh followed suit taking his match 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
In what was his first game action since suffering an unspecified leg injury in the fall, senior Olivier Borsos appeared to be back in full health in the first set winning 6-3, but had to call trainers out to give his right leg some attention during the second.
Borsos eventually fell to Matt Frost 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. Despite the outcome, LSU coach Jeff Brown said it was a good day for Borsos.
“It was a perfect match for him to come back and prove to himself that he can play three long sets,” Brown said.
LSU will travel to Starkville, Miss., to meet No. 11 Mississippi State on Saturday for the first round of the ITA Kickoff Classic.
