The LSU men’s tennis team had to wait until Monday to host Southeastern Louisiana University, but the wait did not seem to faze the Tigers.
“I think we were all ready to play yesterday,” said junior Cory Ross, who won his singles match versus Paul Birket 6-0, 6-2. “I don’t really think [the postponement] affected us.”
LSU won the match 6-1 overall versus SLU. Jason Hazley, Peter Richman, Bryan Fisher and Sebastian Rutka all won their singles matches in straight sets.
Freshman Paul White suffered the lone defeat for the Tigers, falling to Milas Vosovic 6-7, 6-4, 10-12. White was down in the last set 9-4 but rallied back and was one point from victory, leading 10-9. But Vosovic closed out the match with three consecutive points.
In doubles play, the dynamic duo of Hazley and Fisher got a scare from the pair of Josh Smith and Eric Subriats but pulled out the victory 9-7. Rutka and Ross won their doubles match 8-2, and White and Richman won 8-4.
“I was pleased that [SLU] brought in a team that pushed us a little bit,” head coach Jeff Brown said. “We needed to be pushed before we went into Texas A&M and before we go into Southeastern Conference play.”
No. 26 LSU will travel to College Station, Texas, to battle No. 10 Texas A&M Feb. 15.
“We’re better than what we’re ranked,” Ross said. “We’re going to show that this weekend.”