The LSU men’s tennis team squeaked by unranked South Florida (3-8), 4-3, on Tuesday in the first of four straight home matches for the Tigers.
“We’ve always had battles with South Florida,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “They brought their own weather today. We haven’t seen weather quite like that in a match this year, and it was hot. I think it took a toll on a couple of the guys down there.”
No. 25 LSU (9-5) dominated early, sweeping all three doubles matches to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
Senior Tim Knights and junior Stefan Szacinski made their first appearance as doubles partners, rolling past USF’s duo of Guillermo De Vilchez and Sebastian Hagn.
“We tried a little something different, and it paid off for us,” LSU coach Jeff Brown said.
The Tigers’ No. 38 pair of junior Olivier Borsos and freshman Chris Simpson bounced back from two straight defeats against Alabama and Auburn to win 9-8 over USF’s Wael Kilani and Federico Sabogal.
No. 39-ranked pair, senior Neal Skupski and sophomore James Turbervill also grabbed a victory, improving its record to 11-1 this season.
In singles, Simpson started the Tigers off with a 6-1, 6-2 straight-set win against Juan Carlos Acuna Gerard.
Turbervill extended the Tigers’ lead with a quick 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 three-set victory, but South Florida quickly tightened up the match.
Kilani upset No. 66 Borsos 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 on court one, and USF’s Yannick Yoshizawa defeated Skupski on court two, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 3-2.
Scazinski had a chance to secure the victory for the Tigers on court four, but a controversial call by the chair umpire in the second-set tiebreak kept USF’s Ravi Patel in the match.
“Everybody sees things their own way, who knows how it really was,” Brown said. “Ultimately it’s how you react to those things.”
Scazinski later retired from his match, giving USF their third point.
All eyes shifted to court five where Knights fought back from a set down to take the second set in a tiebreak and force a third deciding set. Knights rolled in the final set, winning six straight games one route to a 3-6, 7-6, 6-0 win.
“I was really struggling with the heat, so I lost the first set,” Knights said. “I kind of felt down and out, but the fans were really good helping me out. I just found a way to come back in that tiebreak and then he was a bit overwhelmed in the third, I think.”
The LSU women’s tennis team will hope to have the same success on Wednesday when they travel to No. 31 Tulsa.
The No. 50 Lady Tigers (7-4) are coming off of a 4-3 victory over Auburn on Sunday.
Wednesday’s matchup will be the Lady Tigers’ only road match before a five-game homestand beginning with No. 34 Minnesota on Saturday.
____ Contact Spencer Hutchinson at [email protected]