Seniors Michael Venus and James Cluskey have parted ways.Neither Tiger has left the LSU men’s tennis team, but the pair, who have been doubles partners since their February 6, 2008, match against Louisiana-Lafayette, have found new counterparts.The duo finished the 2008 season ranked No. 14 in the nation and had 16 doubles wins, including 10-0 at home during the season. Venus and Cluskey also earned a bid in the 2008 NCAA Doubles Tournament, where they fell to the No. 11 Illinois duo of Billy Heiser and Ryan Rowe.But freshman Neal Skupski moved into the Cluskey’s spot on LSU’s No. 1 doubles team beginning with the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in January. Cluskey has since played with sophomore Julien Gauthier and freshman Mark Bowtell in the No. 2 spot.Venus and Skupski (3-0) have started the spring season with victories against the No. 7-ranked doubles team in the nation, Texas Tech’s Christian Rojmar and Raony Carvalho; the No. 4 ranked doubles team of Tulsa’s Arnau Brugues and Philip Stephens and, most recently, Rice’s Tobias Scheil and Christoph Muller.”Neal Skupski is good enough to play with Venus at a really high level,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “Neal and Mike will probably be ranked top 5 when the new rankings come out.”Brown said the reason for the switch is to spread out the veteran experience both seniors possess.”It allows [Cluskey] to play at No. 2 and lend some experience to whomever he plays with,” Brown said. “We just had so much experience at the top when [Michael Venus] and James were together.”Cluskey, who recently won Ireland’s RSA National Indoors doubles championship, said after the SEC Indoor Championships he agreed the switch would be beneficial for the team.”They put Mike and Neal together, and they made the [SEC Indoor Championship] finals,” Cluskey said. “Me and Julien played together, and we won the consolation. So I think it’s going to be good for the doubles points during the year. We should have strong doubles.”Despite being ranked No. 12 in the latest ITA Southeast Regional Rankings with Cluskey, Venus thinks Skupski has enough potential to make the new duo successful.”Neal is probably the best doubles player on the team,” Venus said.Skupski said he’s confident playing in the No. 1 spot, despite being a freshman.”There’s a lot of pressure playing No. 1 and being a freshman, but Michael settles me down,” Skupski said. “I’ve played a lot of doubles back in England. I have a lot of confidence in playing doubles for LSU.”Skupski said he has experience playing doubles with his older brother and former doubles teammate of Cluskey, Ken Skupski.”I prefer to play doubles than singles,” Neal Skupski said. “I’ve played a lot of doubles back in England. I’ve had a few tournaments with my brother.”Cluskey and Ken Skupski finished the 2007 season ranked No. 24 nationally in doubles.
 
 
 
—-Contact Jarred LeBlanc at [email protected]