In a busy three-match weekend, the LSU men’s tennis team cleaned house to remain undefeated at home this season.
After easily taking care of Tulane, 7-0, Friday night, the No. 28 Tigers upset No. 12 Texas A&M, 4-3, and rolled over in-state foe New Orleans, 6-1, in the second match of a doubleheader Sunday.
In the first matchup Sunday, the Tigers faced stiff competition against the Aggies who boast two ranked doubles pairs and the No. 15-ranked singles player in the nation, Alexis Klegou.
In doubles, undefeated LSU duo senior Neal Skupski and sophomore James Turbervill improved their record to 7-0 this season with an 8-5 victory over Texas A&M’s No. 36-ranked pair, Colin Hoover and John Lewis, on court two.
But the Aggies fought back to win the doubles point and take a 1-0 lead with two tiebreak victories on courts one and three. Sunday was the first time LSU won a match without securing the doubles point.
In singles, Texas A&M extended its lead to 2-0 with a quick 6-4, 6-0 victory by Niall Angus over Turbervill.
The Tigers evened the score at 2-2 with straight set victories by senior Tom Knights and freshman Chris Simpson.
On court one, LSU junior Olivier Borsos completed a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 upset victory over Texas A&M’s No. 15-ranked Alexis Klegou.
“From the beginning, [Borsos] took advantage of what [Klegou] gave him,” said coach Jeff Brown. “[Klegou] didn’t really show up in the first set, and that was an important thing that Olivier took advantage of.”
The Aggies were next to even the score at 3-3 when Texas A&M’s Junior Ore defeated LSU junior Stefan Szacinski 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, putting the hopes of a Tiger victory in the hands of Skupski on court two.
Skupski rallied from a set down to win two straight sets and eventually clinch the match with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory over Hoover.
Texas A&M is the highest ranked opponent LSU has defeated since 2008, when it toppled No. 8 Florida.
“Some days the breaks will fall your way at the end and some days they don’t, but today they did.” Brown said. “We’re going to enjoy this one for a little bit.”
As soon as Skupski clinched the 4-3 win for the Tigers, he was swarmed by his teammates who dogpiled him in the middle of the court in celebration.
“It’s probably one of the best feelings of my life so far,” Skupski said. “It was just a lot of adrenaline.”
Senior David Roberts had a successful outing in his first appearance for the Tigers this season in the late match Sunday, securing a 6-2, 6-3 victory over UNO’s Kardell.
Skupski, Simpson, senior Tom Knights and junior Roger Anderson also snatched straight set victories in the Tigers’ win over UNO.
LSU’s next match will be its first Southeastern Conference match of the season against Kentucky on Friday.
“If we can play this way against Kentucky, I think we will have a good opportunity,” Brown said. “If we don’t, it will be a tough day.”
 
—-
Contact Spencer Hutchinson at [email protected]