No. 18 LSU battled No. 1 Illinois, but the Fighting Illini tamed the Tigers, 6-1, Thursday at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
The loss was the second straight for the Tigers, who fell to No. 5 Ole Miss, 5-1, last Sunday.
Sebastian Rutka recorded the only victory of the day for LSU. Rutka upset No. 122 Michael Calkins, 2-6, 7-5, 10-7.
“I think we’ve learned throughout some of these matches against the top teams that we’re right there,” said head coach Jeff Brown. “It’s just going to take a little bit stronger effort from the top. And then the rest of the stuff will take care of itself.”
No. 117 Cory Ross sat out the match due to illness. Brandon Nicholson, filling in for Ross, twisted his ankle late in his match against No. 79 Ryler Deheart and was taken to Baton Rouge General Hospital.
The extent of Nicholson’s injury is unknown. Ross is expected to play this weekend against Arkansas.
Sunday, LSU (11-8, 4-6 Southeastern Conference) hosts No. 28 Arkansas (10-11, 3-7 SEC) at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium at noon.
Arkansas has lost four of its last five matches.
“It’s important that we do our best job to take care of business [against Arkansas],” Brown said. “They’re a good team on paper, but we’ve got to take care of them.”
The No. 40 LSU Lady Tigers (11-11, 3-7 SEC) travel to Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday to battle the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks (8-12, 0-10 SEC) at 1 p.m. It is the last match of the regular season for LSU.
The Lady Razorbacks, winless in SEC play, have lost five consecutive matches.
The Lady Tigers have won three of their past four and are led by the No. 43 doubles team of Rocio Fantilli and Lauren Seaman.