With the culmination of the Southeastern Conference tournament, the LSU men’s and women’s tennis teams found an abrupt end to the regular season.
Next on the tentative schedule for the two teams is the NCAA tournament.
The No. 18 LSU men’s tennis team (13-10) started the SEC tournament as the No. 5 seed. The Tigers defeated Arkansas, 4-0, in the first round of the tournament.
No. 21 Bryan Fisher and Jason Hazley clinched the doubles point for LSU with a thrilling 9-8 victory over Aleksey Bubas and Eduardo Pachero.
In singles play, No. 117 Cory Ross cruised to a 6-4, 6-2, victory against Rohan Gujjar. Sebastian Rutka defeated Roberts, 6-2, 6-2, while freshman Paul White ended the match with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, triumph versus Talley Parker.
With the victory, the Tigers advanced to the quarterfinals to battle No. 4 seed Kentucky.
LSU defeated the Wildcats, 4-2, earlier this season in Baton Rouge, but the Tigers did not enjoy the same success in Oxford, Miss., as Kentucky (18-10) upended LSU, 4-1.
The Tigers lone victory came via Rutka, who smashed Matt Emery, 6-4, 6-2.
For the Tigers, the loss guaranteed the third consecutive SEC tournament the Tigers bowed out in the quarterfinal round. LSU has not won the tournament since back-to-back championships in 1998 and 1999.
The LSU women’s tennis team (12-12) fell in a heartbreaker to Ole Miss, 4-3, in the first round of the SEC tournament.
LSU recorded two early victories in doubles play to earn the point. Marina Chiarelli and Jessica Ferguson defeated Audra Adams and Sabrina Peppl, 9-8. Camila Caliari upended Karen Harboe and Florencia Basile.
The Lady Tigers could not hold on in singles play. Chiarelli and Caliari recorded the only singles victories for the Lady Tigers.
The Lady Tigers led the final singles match, but a Rebels comeback by Karen Harboe on court No. 2 against Jessica Ferguson foiled LSU’s chance to advance to the quarterfinals.
“We played hard,” said coach Tony Minnis. “We had every chance to beat Ole Miss. We fought hard, they just came back and beat us.”
Minnis and the Lady Tigers now hope to make the NCAA Tournament.
“We have a 50-50 chance of making [the NCAA tournament],” Minnis said. “The thing we’ve always geared toward and the thing that we’ve always shot for is doing well in the NCAA Tournament. So, let’s just keep our fingers crossed.”