The No. 45 ranked LSU men’s tennis team (3-1) fell to No. 37 TCU (3-0) by a score of 4-1 in the ITA Kickoff championship match in College Station, Texas, Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers secured the doubles point in each of their previous three matches, but the Horned Frogs prevented them from getting off to a fast start Sunday.
TCU’s doubles pairing of Arnau Dachs and Guillermo Nunez defeated LSU’s team of sophomore Justin Butsch and junior Andrew Korniek by a score of 6-2. Cameron Norrie and Trevor Johnson sealed the doubles point with a 6-3 victory of senior Chris Simpson and junior Tam Trinh to give the Horned Frogs a 1-0 lead.
Junior Boris Arias leveled the overall score for the Tigers with a 6-1, 6-3 win over TCU’s Facundo Lugones. Coach Jeff Brown was pleased with the quick response.
“We responded really well in singles as Boris got off the court pretty quickly to tie it up,” Brown said.
TCU, however, prevented the Tigers from gaining momentum. The Horned Frogs won the next three singles matches to clinch the victory. Nunez defeated LSU’s Simon Freund in three sets to seal the 4-1 victory.
Brown praised TCU and said its ranking will improve as the season progresses.
“We know how good TCU is,” Brown said. “Their ranking has not caught up with how good they are.”
The Tigers turn their attention to next weekend where they will host No. 47 Purdue at 1 p.m. Jan. 31 and Wisconsin at 11 a.m. Feb. 1.
“It is a big week for us to get back and rest tomorrow and get back to work on Tuesday,” Brown said. ”We will take what we did this weekend and move forward.”