LSU men’s tennis fell in its third SEC match in a row yesterday, dropping to the No. 6 Kentucky Wildcats 1-6 in overall match count.
The Tigers now fall to 8-4 on the season and 0-3 in SEC play.
Coming into the match today, Kentucky ranked at No. 6 in the country as a team following a close win against Texas A&M last week, whom LSU lost to convincingly. At 13-2, they boast five ranked players in singles, as well as a ranked pair in doubles.
The Wildcats include No. 23 Liam Draxl, No. 28 Alafia Ayeni, No. 47 Joshua Lapadat, No. 102 Taha Baadi, and No. 112 Charlelie Cosnet. Their ranked doubles pair is No. 56 Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer.
LSU entered today’s match with only one ranked singles player and one ranked doubles pair, with Ronnie Hohmann ranked No. 55 in singles and duo Stefan Latinovic and Nick Watson ranked No. 35.
For the Tigers, the day started in the wrong direction. The Tigers’ best doubles pair in Latinovic and Watson dropped the first match of the day, losing 2-6.
They were followed by another LSU loss as Julien Penzlin and George Stoupe fell 3-6, putting the Wildcats up 1-0 on overall match count with the doubles point. Chen Dong and Welsh Hotard were up in their close set 5-4, but the match went unfinished due to the doubles point already being clinched.
The Tigers went into singles play down the doubles point they are used to winning, and the conditions didn’t improve for them.
No. 55 ranked singles leader Ronnie Hohmann lost the first singles match of the day. He took an early lead, winning the first set 6-4, but Wildcat opponent and No. 23 ranked Draxl found a new gear and closed the match dramatically. The match ended 6-4, 0-6, 1-6.
Latinovic followed with a hard-fought battle of his own, losing the first set 2-6 before turning the match around with a 6-3 win in the second set. A third set would go to a tiebreaker, and unfortunately Latinovic lost by the skin of his teeth 2-6, 6-3, 6-7(5-7).
Dong dropped his match in a straightforward loss, falling 3-6, 3-6. He was followed by the Tigers’ only win of the day, an exciting and brutal battle between LSU’s Welsh Hotard and Kentucky’s Taha Baadi.
The match started with a first set that would go to a tie breaker, and Hotard clinched the first set, winning 7-6(8-6). The second set went to Wildcat Baadi, but not without a fight, with Hotard narrowly losing 5-7. A third set tiebreaker would see Hotard leave with a win, finishing the match 7-6(8), 5-7, 10-5.
Stoupe dropped his first set 2-6, and attempted a comeback, taking the second set to a tiebreaker, but ultimately fell 2-6, 6-7(4-7). Penzlin rounded out a rather disappointing day for the Tigers, falling in straight sets 5-7, 2-6.
Kentucky took the win today in Lexington, winning 6-1 over the Tigers. LSU will need short memories following the loss as they travel to No. 20 ranked Tennessee on Saturday March 11.
