No. 20 LSU hosted a double header Saturday against two Mississippi teams — Southern Miss (3-3) and Jackson State (2-14) — and continued their early season success with another sweep on the season.
LSU has been away from home since Feb. 3. The Tigers showed up early and played well to dominate their way all the way through.
“It was good to be home finally,” co-head coach Chris Brandi said.
In the first doubles match against Southern Miss, senior Shane Monroe and freshman Daniel Moreno quickly finished their match 6-2. It wasn’t long after that No. 45-ranked duo junior Rafael Wagner and sophomore Joey Thomas clinched the doubles point with a 6-1 victory to put LSU up 1-0 going into singles play.
Freshman Boris Kozlov and Wagner quickly swept their matches in straight sets. Thomas wasn’t far behind with a 6-4 and 6-2 win to give the Tigers the 4-0 win. The matches continued to play out as freshman Nick Watson and sophomore Malik Bhatnagar rolled their way to victory — both sweeping in straight sets.
Senior Shane Monroe was locked in a battle on court one. He won the first set 7-5 and fought to a 7-6(2) victory to put LSU up 7-0.
“Southern Miss is a tough team, and they played really well in doubles,” Brandi said. “Our guys took care of business today.”
The second match was set for Jackson State, where the Tigers continued to do what they have done all season — succeed. The doubles point has been a big factor in LSU’s success against strong opponents throughout the year. They took both doubles point in Saturday’s victory.
The freshman duo of Kozlov and Watson dominated in their 6-0 victory. It wasn’t long after that Wagner and Thomas finished their match with a 6-1 victory. With a 1-0 lead going into singles play it didn’t seem like LSU would slow down.
Bhatnagar wouldn’t take long to put LSU up 2-0 with two 6-0 sets. Thomas recorded the fifth and final shutout of the day as he swept his way to a 6-0 victory in both sets. Monroe wouldn’t be outdone by the LSU freshmen as he clinched the sweep for the Tigers as he continued the strong outing with 6-1 wins in both of his sets.
“We had a couple of matches in the second set where it was closer than we would have liked but credit to our opponents,” Brandi said. “Our guys did a good job today.”
LSU opens up SEC play on March 1 against Alabama (10-2). Two days later, the Tigers will move to another part of the state to face Auburn (10-6). The SEC will be tough for LSU, but the team is rolling and have the talent to finish with a strong conference schedule.