The No. 17-ranked LSU men’s tennis team rode on high emotions en route to a 5-2 win over No. 13 ranked Texas A&M on Wednesday in the W. T. Dub Robinson Tennis Stadium. Led by the play of junior Jason Hazley, LSU (9-1) came from behind in losing the doubles point to take the match.
Coach Jeff Brown said he credits the win to the attitude of the team.
“College sports are a lot about attitude,” Brown said. “A lot of these guys are pretty even when it comes to their level of tennis, but it comes down to who believes and who’s willing to play it out.”
LSU began the match losing two of the three opening doubles sets. Led by Ante Matjevic and Lester Cook, the nation’s No. 1 ranked duo, Texas A&M jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.
Matijevic and Cook knocked out No. 20 Bryan Fisher and Hazley, 8-1.
Mohammed Dakki and Matt Loucks defeated LSU’s Cory Ross and Danny Bryan, 9-7.
LSU’s only doubles victory came when freshman Ken Skupski and junior Peter Richman defeated Brett Joelson and Marvin Rolle, 8-6.
Brown said he was pleased with the way the team came back from losing the doubles point.
“You could see the disappointment in everybody’s eyes in the locker room,” Brown said. “We just went out there and we were business-like about it. Once things started going our way, the emotion came back to us.”
In singles, LSU won five of six matches. Skupski knocked off Matijevic on the No. 1 court, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
Majevic is currently the No. 10- ranked singles player in the nation.
On the No. 4 court, Fisher came from behind in losing the first set to defeat Brett Joelson, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Ross knocked of Loucks on the No. 5 court, 6-7, (4-7), 6-3, 6-4.
The Aggies’ only singles victory came when Cook, ranked No. 21 in the nation, defeated Richman on the No. 3 court, 6-4, 7-5.
On the No. 2 court, Hazley displayed a lot of emotion in defeating Dakki, 6-3, 6-4.
“Part of [defeating Texas A&M] was just repaying them for what they’ve done all the times we played over at their place,” Hazley said. “I just wanted to be really aggravating and get on their case.”
Hazley added that just one person can change the outcome of the match.
“A lot of times having one fan being really loud can be more annoying to you,” Hazley said. “You can just hear that one person so clearly.”
On the No. 6 court, LSU’s Sebastian Rutka defeated Khaled El Dorry, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
Skupski said he was especially happy beating Texas A&M.
“There’s a lot of rivalry that not many people know about,” Skupski said. “There’s a lot of emotion [on the court] and things are said that stay on the court.”