In its home-opening weekend, LSU bounced back to a winning record and then some.
In their four matches starting on Saturday, the Tigers (5-2) swept their competition and nearly served a shutout if not for a doubles point yielded to Southern Miss (4-4) on Sunday.
No. 27 LSU began its weekend by defeating UNF (1-4) and Liberty (2-2) on Saturday by respective scores of 4-0. Junior Chris Simpson clinched both matches for the Tigers with each of his singles victories while freshmen Justin Butsch and John Michael Busch earned their first singles wins of the season.
But having seen the Ospreys’ hard-fought losses against No. 12 Florida and No. 46 Georgia Tech made LSU’s defeat of UNF the weekend’s most notable accomplishment in Tiger coach Jeff Brown’s eyes.
“We were really concerned going into the weekend, really focusing on [UNF] as being a team that was capable of beating a team at our level,” Brown said. “So we were very aware of UNF’s potential. We kind of dominated them [in singles] which was what stood out to me from the weekend.”
Continuing their dominance as well were Simpson and sophomore Boris Arias, as the No. 60-ranked doubles partners improved their season record to 6-1. On Saturday evening, Arias overcame a 5-0 deficit in the second set of his match to comeback and beat Liberty’s Egon Samaai 6-3, 6-5 (7-5).
“I thought it meant he probably shouldn’t have been down 5-0 in the first place,” Brown said.
After defeating Southern Miss 4-1 on Sunday afternoon, LSU wrapped up the weekend with a 4-0 victory against Jackson State.
As sophomore Tam Trinh earned is first singles win of the season on Sunday, Brown said many of the matches this weekend gave the Tigers an opportunity to work on little things with their games. Furthermore, the strenuous couple of days revealed LSU’s staying power.
“Some of us felt a bit tired,” Simpson said. “It’s really tough; eight matches, two days. But we’ve put in so much work at the moment, and we’ve got so much fitness and a great team around us. We worked off each other with energy and it was really quite easy after all.”
A few extra airwaves of exposure weren’t enough to propel the Lady Tigers over FSU on Saturday.
The No. 60 Lady Tigers (4-2) ended their road trip with a 4-1 loss against the No. 27 Seminoles (5-2) as the match was broadcasted on ESPN3. Despite the defeat, LSU women’s coach Julia Sell said the College Matchday contest was an incredible event.
“It was a blast,” Sell said. “Overall, it’s great for a team that’s so young like us to experience that kind of situation early in their careers.”
Playing in an experimental, singles-first format, the Lady Tigers started off slow by falling behind 3-0 to FSU. As several matches included a number of deuce points lost by LSU, momentum swings put pressure on the Lady Tigers.
And missed opportunities are pivotal against an experienced team like the Seminoles, said Sell.
“We didn’t capitalize well from the start,” Sell said. “And FSU came out firing. They’re in front of their home crowd and ESPN’s there … We didn’t really respond well.”
The bright spot in LSU’s loss was freshman Abigail Owens as she defeated FSU’s Laurence Porry 6-3, 6-4. The win was a stepping stone for Owens as she struggled in her first few matches of the season, Sell said.
“It’s been a tough time the past few weeks trying to get [Owens] to make adjustments and correct some of the flaws,” Sell said. “What she did this past week, changing her attitude and mentality, it paid off [Saturday]. If [Saturday]’s any indication of how the season’s gonna go, she’s really going to be a great player for LSU.”

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Angela Major

LSU freshman tennis player Justin Butsch serves the ball Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014 during the Tigers' 6-1 victory against Southern Miss in W.T. "Dub" Robinson Tennis Stadium.