The road ahead of the Tigers was expected to be a tough one as we approached the beginning of the NCAA tournament, with their starting region containing multiple top-25 teams including No. 16 Texas and No. 22 SMU. They had just come off an impressive showing in the SEC tournament though, making expectations a little more hopeful than in years past.
LSU drew SMU as their first opponent, not giving the team any time to warmup before the real action began. The Tigers hadn’t beaten a top-25 opponent since Ole Miss in March, and the Rebels are no longer ranked that high.
It didn’t seem like that fazed the Tigers though, even after they surrendered the doubles point to go down 0-1. They came out on fire in singles, responding to the Mustangs’ success in doubles with three straight points, but it was easy to tell early on that this match was going to come down to the last court or two.
Four courts would be decided in two sets, with only the last of those going SMU’s way. That left the match up to the last two courts, which just so happened to feature LSU’s most consistent players.
Kent Hunter and Gabriel Diaz Freire each lost relatively quick first sets to scare the Tigers early before taking off in the second to even it up. However, while their first two sets mirrored each other, the last would go in completely different directions.
SMU evened the match up at 3-3 after Diaz Freire lost steam, promptly getting swept and shifting all eyes towards Court 3.
It was looking shaky for the Tigers, as while Diaz Freire’s match was concluding, Hunter’s started his match heading in the wrong direction. He dropped two of his first three, and four more losses would mean the end of their season.
However, when the set entered its first and only set point, Hunter still had four games to spare, not dropping a single set from that point on and defeating his opponent 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
They will face their regional host in Texas on Saturday, who just previously pulled out a 4-0 sweep over Idaho. The Tigers will look to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2007.
