The LSU tennis teams experienced success in the opening weekend of the fall season.
The LSU men’s tennis team was the least successful of the two in their first competition of the fall, but the doubles team of juniors Tam Trinh and Andrew Korinek advanced to the finals of the Cajun Classic.
Trinh and Korinek fell to Arnau Dachs and Guillermo Nuñez from Texas Christian University in the championship.
Trinh and Korinek were a makeshift team going into the tournament because Trinh’s usual doubles partner, sophomore Eric Perez, is sidelined with an injury.
Brown said being able to plug and play his doubles players with this type of success is a key for the team going forward.
“We have eight really good proven doubles players at this point that we can draw from and mix and match here and there,” Brown said. “We’ll keep using the best pairings.”
Senior Chris Simpson advanced to the semifinals of the Cajun Classic singles tournament before falling to eventual champion Georgia freshman Wayne Montgomery.
In the Southeastern Conference Fall Classic, junior Boris Arias and sophomore Justin Butsch won their first match to advance, but both fell in the second round.
Brown said the pair ran into tough competition, but it was good to see Arias playing in a tournament after being injured during the offseason.
He added the team needs to continue to get more experience to help grow their toughness, but the first tournament of the year is always a struggle.
“A lot of times when you haven’t played as much, your arms are a little sore and sometimes you don’t serve well for a couple matches in a row,” Brown said. “[As we] play in more matches will see improvement.”
The LSU women’s tennis team had a strong weekend at the Georgia Tech Invitational, winning 18 of their 23 singles matches.
Junior transfer Skylar Kuykendall won all three of her singles matches to start her LSU career.
Senior Noel Scott and sophomore Skylar Holloway also won all three of their singles matches to help lead the Tigers to singles wins over North Carolina State, Georgia State and Georgia Tech.
In doubles, LSU defeated NC State, split four matches with Georgia State and fell to Georgia Tech.
The doubles team of Kuykendall and sophomore Abigail Owens won all three of their matches this weekend. Ella Taylor and Amanda Atanasson were also undefeated, going 2-0 on the weekend with wins against the Wolfpack and Panthers.
Both teams have crucial upcoming matches, as they return to action this Saturday in their respective Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American tournaments. Qualifying for both tournaments run Saturday through Wednesday with the tournament itself being Thursday through Sunday.