The No. 55 LSU men’s tennis team was hardly a speed bump in No. 2 Tennessee’s road to victory Sunday.The Volunteers, whose only loss this season came at the hands of No. 1 Virginia, shut down the Tigers, 7-0, in Knoxville, Tenn.Tennessee (16-1, 5-0) displayed why its top two doubles teams are ranked in the nation’s top five by sweeping the doubles point.LSU (5-8, 2-3) fell in straight sets across the board in singles.”Tennessee is one of the best teams in the nation, and they played like it today,” LSU coach Jeff Brown said in a news release. “They took it to us in doubles and stayed with it in singles.”Tennessee’s No. 2 junior John-Patrick Smith swiftly defeated No. 46 sophomore Neal Skupski, 6-1, 6-3. No. 44 freshman Rhyne Williams topped LSU freshman Stefan Szacinski, 6-3, 6-1, to give the Volunteers an early 3-0 lead.It marked Skupski’s first loss since playing then-No. 7 Florida on March 7.LSU junior Julien Gauthier fell, 6-4, 6-3, to give Tennessee the fourth point for the victory, and the remaining three Tigers eventually crumbled to the Southeastern Conference’s top-ranked team.LSU DEFEATS NO. 21 WAKE FOREST
LSU won in dramatic fashion, 4-3, against No. 21 Wake Forest on Friday afternoon at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.Szacinski and freshman Olivier Borsos trailed, 6-3, in doubles before grabbing four straight games to take the lead, 7-6, after the Tigers and Demon Deacons split the first two doubles matches.But Wake Forest (6-4) regained the lead and eventually took the doubles match in the tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-5), to give the Demon Deacons the doubles point.The Tigers trailed, 3-2, before the final two singles matches finished.”The most important lesson is you can’t give up the fight,” Brown said Friday. “You can’t give up. That’s the most important thing in sports.”LSU freshman James Turbervill won, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, and Gauthier took the final match minutes later, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, to give the Tigers the comeback victory.”It was obviously a stressful situation,” Gauthier said. “It was one of our biggest matches. They were a good team, and we really wanted that one.”Skupski dropped the first set against Wake Forest’s No. 29 freshman Tripper Carleton, 6-2, but persevered to take the next two sets, 7-5, 6-1, for the win.”Neal came out strong recently after struggling a bit at the beginning of the season,” Brown said. “He’s won three in a row against ranked opponents.”LSU sophomore Mark Bowtell also notched a ranked win against Wake Forest’s No. 92 junior Iain Atkinson in straight sets, 7-6, 7-5.”Bowtell’s been doing it all year,” Brown said. “He belongs in that upper group of players.”Brown said the win was crucial with the Tigers’ tough schedule. Ten of the 13 teams LSU has played were ranked.”We have to take advantage when we have the chance to win, and we did a good job of that,” Brown said.LSU returns home Tuesday to face another top-five team, No. 4 Ohio State.
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