Sophomore Stefan Szacinski won all seven of his matches this weekend in the University of South Florida Fall Invitational as the LSU men’s tennis team closed out its fall slate in Tampa, Fla.
The Tigers roared out of the gates Friday, claiming 14 of their 16 matches against Jacksonville University.
Senior Julien Gauthier, junior Tom Knights and sophomores Olivier Borsos and Szacinski all won in straight sets in flight A.
Flight B was no different. Sophomores James Turbervill and Roger Anderson each bested Jacksonville’s Andrew Lerner in straight sets, and junior David Roberts earned a two-set victory as well.
Senior Cody Loup dropped the first set of his flight C match, 6-4, before retiring because of injury.
The Tigers won seven of eight doubles matches Friday against the Dolphins.
The duos of Borsos and Anderson, Gauthier and Turbervill, and Knights and Szacinski won two matches each, and Loup and Roberts pitched in with one win.
“We had another great start of the first day of a tournament,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “We are gaining confidence by winning.”
That confidence rolled over to Saturday’s matches, as LSU won three of its four doubles contests.
The singles were a different story. LSU struggled to a 1-6 singles record Saturday with Szacinski notching the only win, a straight-set victory against USF’s Juan Acuna.
The team rebounded Sunday, winning four of its five singles matches and notching a 2-1 doubles record.
The teams of Knights and Szacinski and Gauthier and Turbervill were both 4-0 in doubles for the weekend.
The tournament closed out the fall season for Brown and the Tigers, who will open up spring play with the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships on Friday, Jan. 14.
“We had a lot of good competition this weekend,” Brown said. “We have one more week of official practice, and then we will look forward to continuing our strength and conditioning to get ready for our first match of the spring.”
 
 
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Contact Hunt Palmer at [email protected]