The LSU men’s tennis team’s late-season losing skid reached seven consecutive games this weekend as the Tigers dropped matches on the road to No. 10 Mississippi State and No. 14 Ole Miss.
No. 27 LSU (11-9, 2-6) suffered its first loss of the weekend to Mississippi State (16-4, 7-1), 6-1, on Saturday in Starkville, Miss., after inclement weather postponed the match Friday.
Mixing up the doubles line up proved unsuccessful for the Tigers as the Bulldogs claimed the first point.
No. 43 George Coupland and Artem Ilyushin defeated senior Tom Knights and junior Olivier Borsos, 8-4, on court two.
Junior Roger Anderson and sophomore James Turbervill were able to keep it close with Zach White and Ethan Wilkinson on court three, but the Bulldog duo took the set, 8-7 (3).
Mississippi State ran with the momentum in singles as No. 15 Ilyushin defeated No. 55 Borsos on the top court, 6-2, 6-1.
The Bulldog’s No. 67-ranked Stropp clinched the match on court three, defeating No. 98 Simpson, 6-4, 6-1.
“Mississippi State played at a high level, and we didn’t have an answer for them,” said LSU men’s coach Jeff Brown.
LSU failed to put a halt to its losing streak on Sunday in Oxford, Miss., as the Tigers fell to Ole Miss (10-5, 6-2), 5-2.
The Rebels took a quick 1-0 lead, sweeping all courts in doubles play.
No. 36-ranked Marcel Thiemann gave Ole Miss a 2-0 advantage, defeating Skupski 6-1, 6-0, on court two.
The Rebels’ Johan Backstrom clinched the match on court five, putting down junior Stefan Szacinski, 6-2, 6-3.
The LSU women’s tennis team saw split results in its weekend action, defeating Mississippi State, 5-2, and losing to No. 17 Ole Miss, 6-1.
The No. 35-ranked Lady Tigers (11-8, 4-4) kept Mississippi State (6-10, 0-7) winless in Southeastern Conference play, defeating the Bulldogs, 5-2, on Friday.
Senior Whitney Wolf and junior Keri Frankenberger opened doubles play with an 8-4 victory against Petra Ferancova and Rosaline Dion on the top court.
Mississippi State’s Ekaterina Iakovleva and Olesya Tsigvintseva tied the doubles score, defeating senior Olivia Howlett and sophomore Yvette Vlaar, 8-6, on court two.
The doubles point came down to court three, where junior Kaitlin Burns and sophomore Ariel Morton clinched for the Lady Tigers, 8-6, against Alexandra Perper and Naomi Tran.
LSU would quickly take control of the match in singles, picking up victories from junior Ebie Wilson and Vlaar on the bottom two courts.
The Bulldogs would then get on the board as Iakovleva defeated Burns on court three, 6-1, 6-3.
Wolf clinched the match for the Lady Tigers on court one, defeating Perper, 6-4, 6-4.
“Any time you can get a win in this conference is good, and Mississippi State has a very solid team,” said LSU women’s coach Tony Minnis.
Sunday’s match against Ole Miss (13-7, 5-3) brought a different outcome for LSU, as the Lady Tigers dropped the match, 6-1.
Ole Miss took the doubles point as Gabby Rangel and Erin Stephens took down Vlaar and Howlett on court two, 8-5.
In singles, the Rebels made easy work of the Lady Tigers as No. 12-ranked Boxx defeated Wolf and Julia Jones edged Frankenberger to give Ole Miss a 3-0 lead.
Guthrie clinched the victory of Ole Miss as she defeated Wilson on court five, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
 
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Contact Ian Fontenot at [email protected]