The LSU men’s tennis team took a break from Southeastern Conference play Wednesday night when 34th-ranked South Florida came to W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
The Tigers (7-3, 2-2 SEC) won the match 5-2 and continued their streak of successful doubles play. They clinched the doubles point behind a dominating performance from the duo of Michael Venus and James Cluskey, who defeated Daniel Daudt and Thomas Estrada, 8-1. Venus, the 86th-ranked player in the nation, continued his fiery play in his singles match against South Florida freshman Lucas Jovita, who is ranked 78th in the nation. Several altercations between the two players defined the match, as Jovita repeatedly questioned Venus’ shots. But Venus had the last laugh, winning the match 6-4, 6-3. Freshman Sebastian Carlsson, the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, won six straight games in the second set against South Florida sophomore Diego Toledo to force a tiebreak, which Carlsson won, 8-6. Carlsson leads the Tigers with a 20-5 record. LSU coach Jeff Brown applauded his team’s victory against the Bulls (9-3, 2-0 Big East). “South Florida brought in a really talented team,” Brown said. “That was a challenge … it took a complete [effort] to get our four points.” Freshman Julien Gauthier took his singles match to a third set after losing the first set, 6-2, against South Florida freshman Jamal Adderley. He jumped ahead of Adderley, 4-3, in the third set but could not hold on in a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 loss. “Julien was a little bit rusty after taking a couple of matches off last weekend, but other than that I feel good about it, and everybody did a really good job.” Now all eyes are on Ohio State, which will bring its second-ranked team into Baton Rouge next Sunday. “They’ve been playing indoors a lot, and this is one of their first outdoor matches,” Venus said. “Everyone has been looking at this one on the schedule for a while. You can see in everyone’s eyes that they’re ready, so it should be good.”
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