Winning is contagious — just ask the No. 37 LSU men’s tennis team. Two days after the LSU men’s basketball team recorded its first victory in Southeastern Conference play, it was the men’s tennis team’s turn on a blustery February night on the hard courts of W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium. LSU (2-4)snapped a four-game losing streak Thursday, sweeping a doubleheader and recorded its first two victories of the spring dual season with a 6-1 triumph against in-state rival Louisiana-Lafayette (2-6) and a 4-0 win against New Orleans (1-4). “I’m not the most superstitious guy in some aspects — I just like to win … and hopefully it becomes a habit,” said LSU men’s coach Jeff Brown. “That’s what’s good about these matches — you learn how to dominate.” The Tigers, who have already lost four consecutive matches for the second season in a row, won their first doubles point since Jan. 29 against Louisville in the ITA Kickoff Weekend when freshman Roger Anderson ripped a forehand winner past ULL’s Carlin Murray to clinch the doubles point. Sophomore Neal Skupski ended a personal five-match losing streak with a straight-set, 7-5, 6-3, victory against ULL’s Javier Pulgar-Garcia. LSU entered the match having lost 35 of 46 sets in singles play, including eight straight-set singles match loses in a row.  But LSU junior Sebastian Carlsson ended the drought, cruising to a 6-1, 6-2, win versus Tomasz Krzyszkowski to open singles play against the Ragin’ Cajuns. “It was more of a whole team effort,” said LSU assistant coach Danny Bryan. “I was most impressed with that.”LSU’s loss of the day came on court three when junior Julien Gauthier dropped a highly scrutinized match to Murray, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2. Murray had several verbal arguments with the chair umpire, including a heated debate after Gauthier threw his racket into the net following a disputed point in the third set. LSU now heads into Sunday’s home match at 1 p.m. against No. 17 Texas A&M (4-2) with a little bit of momentum.The Tigers have won their previous two home meetings against the Aggies dating back to 2003, including a 5-2 win in 2007. “It’s important to your confidence to have won and to get back in that mindset,” Brown said of the Tigers’ lifted spirits heading into Sunday’s showdown with the Aggies. LADY TIGERS HOST LADY OWLS The LSU women’s tennis team returns home Saturday to host Rice in its final tune-up before Southeastern Conference play starts next week. The Lady Tigers (2-5) are in the middle of a five-match losing streak heading into their match against the Lady Owls (6-3). First serve is slated for 1 p.m. After starting the season with sweeps of Louisiana-Lafayette and Prairie View A&M, LSU has dropped its last five matches by a combined score of 25-5. LSU returns Sunday to the friendly confines of Robinson Stadium for the first time since Feb. 7.”Playing at home is a huge advantage for us,” said LSU women’s coach Tony Minnis. “Over the years, we’ve gotten great support from the crowds as far as atmosphere goes.” The Lady Tigers, who started the season at No. 29 in the ITA tennis rankings, have been in free fall mode ever since. The lone bright spot for Minnis has been freshman Kaitlin Burns. She is a perfect 5-0 during the spring and has a team-leading 13 wins on the year. “She listens well, she works hard and she’s really done a great job for us so far,” Minnis said. “She’s got a lot of potential … and I think she can be better.” Minnis said he has reiterated to his team the importance of keeping things simple, something key to a young and inexperienced team like LSU. “When you start focusing on winning, you start pushing it and pressing it and doing the wrong things,” he said. “So we’ve talked about it; if they do things right, winning and losing takes care of itself.”   –
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