The No. 13 LSU men’s tennis team swept past No. 12-seed Alabama in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, 4-0.
The Tigers won the doubles point as Ken Skupski and Peter Richman defeated Alabama’s Eric Moinar and Mike Green, 8-3, on the No. 3 court.
The doubles point was then clinched when the No. 16 combination of Bryan Fisher and Jason Hazley defeated the No. 49 team of Chris Gostek and Stephen Mitchell, 8-3, on the No. 1 court. It is the fourth consecutive win for Fisher and Hazley, who were also named second-team All-SEC.
No. 44 team of Cory Ross and Sebastian Rutka were leading Alabama’s Joseph Jung and R.J. Murray, 6-3, when the match was stopped.
Coach Jeff Brown said he was glad the team came out with intensity.
“We came out with a lot of intensity in doubles,” Brown said. “I was worried that in an 8 a.m. match the intensity level wouldn’t get up, but they went out there and played like pros.”
In singles competition, Fisher, Rutka, and Hazley clinched the win for the Tigers.
Fisher defeated Jung in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, on the No. 3 court. Rutka defeated Murray in straight sets, 6-0, 7-6, on the No. 5 court. The Tigers clinched the match when Hazley defeated Gostek (7-5), 6-3, 7-6, on the No. 2 court.
Skupski was leading Mitchell, 6-4, 4-6, 2-0, on the No. 1 court. Richman was tied with Molnar, 4-6, 7-5, on the No. 4 court, and Ross was leading Green, 3-2, on the No. 6 court when play was stopped.
Alabama coach Billy Pate said the Tigers deserved to win.
“I have to give a lot of credit to LSU,” Pate said. “They are a very talented team and took command early in the match in doubles play and we couldn’t regain any momentum early in singles play.”
The Tigers will now look to avenge a regular-season loss to Kentucky. The Wildcats, currently ranked No. 15, handed LSU its worst loss of the season with a 6-1 victory in Lexington.
The Wildcats boast the No. 5 singles player in the nation, Jesse Witten. Another claim for the Wildcats is No. 65 Tigran Martirosyan. Witten and Rahim Esmail are the No. 23 doubles team in the nation as well.
Brown said the Tigers are eager to play Kentucky.
“We look forward to playing Kentucky to see if we can turn things around from our last match with them,” Brown said.
Brown said he thinks the team will be more prepared this time around.
“I think we match up a little better tis time,” Brown said. “Last time we lost the doubles point, which I thought was our worst doubles of the season. But we’ve cleaned up there and in other places and we should do really well.”
Kentucky was the last team to beat the Tigers in doubles competition as the Tigers have won 10 doubles points in a row.
Brown said playing the Wildcats at a neutral site will give the Tigers a better shot to win.
“The first time we played them in Lexington, and they’re tough to beat there,” Brown said. “This time its a neutral site and we have corrected a few problems we had last time, and I expect us to do really well.”
The Tigers’ match with Kentucky will begin at 8 a.m. in Nashville at Currey Tennis Facility.