A packed house was waiting for the LSU men’s tennis team as it prepared to play its final home match of the regular season at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The No. 19 Tigers gave the fans a thrilling performance against No. 8 Florida, defeating their Southeastern Conference rival, 4-3.
The day began with the recognition of LSU’s three seniors, Kevin Dessauer, Colt Gaston and Jan Zelezny. All three were honored with coach Jeff Brown as a tribute to their success on and off the court throughout their careers.
“This whole season has been almost like their careers,” Brown said. “They started off a little bit slow, but everybody’s built up to the end of a great career and a great season. With this season, we started off slow and managed to get our biggest win toward the end, and I think we’ll continue to get better. This team has meant a lot to this program and to everything that we do. [The seniors] are a successful group, and it was nice for them to end it like that.”
Dessauer, the Tigers’ team captain, secured another singles win to run his record this season to 13-2 and preserve an undefeated record at home. Dessauer knocked off Florida freshman Jeff Dadamo, 6-1, 6-4.
“It’s been a great run,” Dessauer said. “It’s been great winning with all the great supporters. There is definitely a home-court advantage here at LSU. It is one of the best environments to play in the nation in any sport.”
The story of the match was the way the Tigers clinched victory. Freshman Sebastian Carlsson was in a tough three-set battle with fellow freshman Erik Corace.
Carlsson’s match was the only singles contest to reach a third set. Carlsson won the first set, 6-4, and dropped the second set, 6-2, before defeating Corace in the final set, 6-1.
“It was a lot of pressure,” Carlsson said. “But it was also a lot of fun. I could tell the other guy was even more tight and more nervous, and I just tried to focus on moving my feet and getting every ball in. It was one of the greatest tennis moments ever.”
Dessauer said he was very proud of Carlsson, his doubles partner for much of this year.
“He is a freshman, but there is no one else I would have rathered [be] out there,” Dessauer said.
Another great moment of the match was the performance of LSU’s Michael Venus, the No. 74-ranked player in the nation.
Venus’ singles match was against Florida’s Greg Ouellette, the No. 3-ranked player in the nation, and Venus was certainly up to the task.
The junior from New Zealand defeated Ouellette in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, as Tiger fans chanted, “Overrated!” throughout the match.
The Tigers’ other two seniors did not have the same success as Dessauer on Sunday as both suffered straight-set losses. No. 92 Zelezny fell to Nestor Briceno, 6-2, 6-1, and Gaston lost to 53rd-ranked freshman Alex Lacroix, 6-3, 6-3.
The Tigers begin a stretch of four conference road games in April when they travel to Mississippi State and Ole Miss this weekend.
—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]