The LSU men’s tennis team had a new surprise at this weekend’s ITA Southern Regionals in New Orleans, La.
Junior Sebastian Carlsson defeated No. 10 Saketh Myneni, a senior from Alabama, on his way to the quarterfinals.
Carlsson proceeded to defeat his quarterfinals opponent, 7-5, 7-6 (2). He fell in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-3, to Mississippi State’s George Coupland.
“We were looking for someone to step up like Neal (Skupski) did at the All-American, and Julien did at Rice,” said LSU assistant coach Danny Bryan in a news release. “Sebastian took the lead and stepped up for us.”
While the Tigers failed to produce a qualifier for the ITA National Indoor Championships on Nov. 5-8 in New Haven, Conn., it was the second tournament in a row where a Tiger defeated a top-10 singles opponent.
At the ITA All-American Championships on Oct. 5-9, sophomore Neal Skupski defeated No. 5 Guillermo Gomez of Georgia Tech.
Skupski had a solid performance as well, but this time his prowess was displayed in doubles with freshman Stefan Szacinski.
The duo fell in the quarterfinals in a nail-biter, 9-7, to conference foes Trey Walston and Houssam Yassine of Alabama.
“Neal and Stefan are going to be a solid team, and we are looking at some good combinations to go forward,” said LSU men’s coach Jeff Brown.
Senior Nicole Kantor and sophomore Whitney Wolf led the way for the Lady Tigers at the ITA Southern Regionals in Auburn, Ala.
Kantor and Wolf are still fighting their way through the singles bracket.
Kantor dominated her match in the round of 32, 6-0, 6-2, against Louisiana-Monroe junior Claire Clark. Wolf won her match as well, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-4, against Ole Miss sophomore Gabriela Rangel.
Rangel got her revenge as she teamed up with Ole Miss junior Connor Vogel in defeating Kantor and Wolf in the doubles quarterfinals, 8-4.
Freshman Kaitlin Burns won her match in the round of 64, but fell in the round of 32.
“[Burns] won a great first match and came close to winning her second match,” said LSU women’s coach Tony Minnis. “She’s really come a long way.”
Kantor and Wolf continue singles action today in the singles quarterfinals.——Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]