The LSU men’s tennis team generated 19 wins between the doubles and singles teams in three days of play at the Texas A&M Conference Challenge in College Station, Texas this weekend.
The Conference Challenge, which was in a hidden dual format, featured several ranked competitors, including the No. 11 and No. 15 ranked singles players, Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant of Texas A&M. Adams and Vinsant also make up the No. 23 doubles team in the nation.
The Tigers were victorious in seven of their 12 doubles matches, including three victories from the duo of junior Harrison Kennedy and sophomore John Michael Busch.
Kennedy and Busch defeated Jett Cash and Frankie Colunga of Texas A&M 8-6 in round one. In round two, the Tiger duo dominated Hunter Holman and Evan Nix of Texas Tech, 8-2. The final win was against Cash and Scott Wilding of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, 8-3.
After last week’s semifinal appearance at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southern Regional at Auburn, the No. 14 doubles team of junior Tam Trinh and sophomore Eric Perez went 0-3 on the weekend. One of those defeats was an opening round loss to Adams and Vinsant.
Even with the success in doubles, the Tigers were only able to muster 12 wins out of their 31 singles opportunities. However, there were a few bright spots, including ranked victories by senior Chris Simpson and sophomore Justin Butsch.
Simpson defeated Felipe Soares of Texas Tech, 2-6, 6-3, in round one. Simpson received the victory when Soares retired before the deciding third set.
In round three, Butsch upset Jeremy Efferding in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
In total, Simpson and Butsch had two wins apiece in singles and two wins as a doubles pairing.
The Tigers will begin the spring season at home against Lamar and Nicholls State on Jan. 18, 2015 before the ITA Kickoff Weekend tournament on Jan. 23 and 24, 2015 at Texas A&M.
“We wrapped up play today, and it will go a long way in preparing us for the season ahead,” coach Jeff Brown said in a news release “We had some good individual performances this weekend.”