TIGERS VS. No. 7 FLORIDA, No. 41 SOUTH CAROLINA No. 7 Florida chomped No. 73 LSU, 7-0, on Sunday at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium. LSU (3-6, 1-1) fell just short in doubles, losing two of three matches. Sophomore Neal Skupski and freshman Roger Anderson defeated the No. 16 Gator pair of senior Antoine Benneteau and junior Alexandre Lacroix, 8-6, after the Tigers lost the first doubles match.  Junior Julien Gauthier and freshman Olivier Borsos couldn’t secure the doubles point for the Tigers. The game was knotted at 5-5, but the Gators came out victorious, 8-6. “We were probably a point away from getting the doubles point,” said LSU men’s coach Jeff Brown. “You get the doubles point, and the match takes on a different personality.”  
Florida (10-2, 2-0) swept singles without much effort. Borsos took his opponent to three sets, but fell, 0-6, 6-2, 6-2. The rest of the Tigers fell in straight sets. Conversely, singles were the reason LSU beat No. 41 South Carolina, 5-2, on Friday. LSU dropped the doubles point, but three Tigers made swift work of the Gamecocks early in singles, winning in straight sets. Borsos secured the fourth and game-winning point for LSU, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. “The first three straight-set wins were great,” Brown said. “For [junior Sebastian] Carlsson and Skupski to come back and be in the third set really allowed the pressure to stay off of Borsos in his first real significant match for us.” Skupski and Carlsson were the last to finish their three-set matches. Carlsson fell, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, but Skupski beat No. 65 senior Diego Cubas, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. “It was a big win for Neal on court one,” Brown said. “[Cubas has] been ranked a lot higher than he currently is.” Skupski said the win was a giant confidence booster. “I wanted to win so much because it was a ranked player,” Skupski said.  LADY TIGERS VS. No. 6 FLORIDA, No. 58 SOUTH CAROLINA The LSU women’s tennis team couldn’t muster a doubles or singles win against surging No. 6 Florida on Sunday, who destroyed the Lady Tigers, 7-0. The Gators (11-2, 1-1) have five ranked players and haven’t lost a singles match or a doubles point against the last four teams they’ve faced. Florida shutout No. 15 Arkansas on Friday, and last week the Gators blanked then-No. 6 Duke and then-No. 15 Florida State.
LSU senior Nicole Kantor and freshman Ebie Wilson lost a nail-biter in doubles, 8-7 (7-4). Kantor and Wilson’s doubles match was the closest the Lady Tigers (2-8, 0-2) came all day to tasting victory. LSU women’s coach Tony Minnis altered the doubles lineup this weekend. The Lady Tigers won the doubles point but fell to No. 58 South Carolina on Friday, 5-2. The match was knotted at two when South Carolina pulled away with three straight singles wins. Freshman Keri Frankenberger, who won in three sets, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, was the lone Lady Tiger to come out victorious in singles.
Freshman Kaitlin Burns snapped a seven-match win streak in her three-set loss, 6-2, 6-7, 6-1. “We fought as hard as we’ve fought all year,” Minnis said in a news release. “If we play with that type of intensity, we can really turn things around.”
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]