LSU (13-10, 3-8 SEC) rough draws continued Friday, as they drew the on-fire Kentucky Wildcats. They had previously lost four straight ranked matches, only scoring a single point total in the process, and this one wasn’t exactly easier than the rest.
Their previous opponent, Texas A&M, sits 11 spots below Kentucky in the current ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) rankings. That made this match incredibly daunting considering the fact that the Tigers got swept by the Aggies just a week ago.
Head Coach Andy Brandi had some critical thoughts regarding the team’s overall performance and attitude throughout that match, calling the match “an absolute disaster.”
“I laid into them because I felt like they were an embarrassment to LSU and to the athletic program, with the way they behaved on the court,” Brandi stated.
It seems like whatever Coach Brandi told his players worked, as a completely different team showed up for the match against Kentucky.
Doubles
Though Ronnie Hohmann and Vlad Lobak were the only Tigers to jump out to a quick lead, it was the other LSU duos that would ultimately get the job done.
On Court 5, Nick Watson and Ben Koch would be the first duo to claim victory, finishing with three straight wins to take the match 6-3. Kent Hunter and Gabriel Diaz Freire would have a similar, slightly-more-stressful match, going down 4-5 before winning the last three to claim LSU’s first point of the day.
Doubles points have been tough to come by this season for the Tigers, so obtaining the point there was a great sign that LSU could match up well with their opponent.
Singles
Kentucky would quickly strike back, taking the lead after taking down LSU’s Vlad Lobak and Kent Hunter in straight sets. Boris Kozlov would tie the match at 2-2 with a 6-4, 6-4 victory on Court 6 and suddenly, the Tigers had avenues to victory.
The rest of the matches would go to three sets, with Ronnie Hohmann surviving on Court 1 with a close, 7-5 victory in his second set, and Gabriel Diaz Freire and Joao Graca each dropping theirs. As Hohmann was finishing his second set, Graca had a 3-1 lead in his third and Freire had a fresh set.
At this point, LSU’s hope of taking the match had reached its peak, as they just needed Graca to hold out and one of the other courts to go their way.
Unfortunately, that did not happen.
Hohmann and Freire were each dominated in their third sets, likely being gassed from exerting so much energy trying to take their second sets. Graca also slowed down and looked to be on the verge of losing a tight one before the match was clinched.
Kentucky would take it 4-2, but it was not as easy as many people had expected. They certainly looked like the team that nearly took down No. 9 South Carolina earlier in the season, with senior Nick Watson calling it their best performance of the season.
“From Courts 1-6 in singles and Courts 1-3 in doubles, I thought everyone did a great job,” Watson said. “Towards the end, it looked like we had chances on a couple courts, but that’s just a part of tennis. Not everything is going to go your way.”
Coach Brandi was also happy with the performance, considering it a huge improvement from what occurred just a week ago against Texas A&M.
“Today, I believe they did a great job of competing, making the match extremely competitive and putting ourselves in a position to win,” Brandi said. “They did a great job of setting ourselves up against Arkansas on Sunday and going into SECs.”
“Now, we just have to be able to close some of these close matches out.”
LSU faces off against No. 44 Arkansas on Sunday at 1 PM CT at the LSU Tennis Complex. It’ll be their last regular season match of the season, so be sure to tune in.
