LSU’s men’s tennis team won its home opener Sunday for the fourteenth-consecutive time under head coach Jeff Brown.    The Tigers (1-2) defeated No. 29 Rice, 5-2, to earn their first victory of the 2011 dual season.   The Tigers clinched the doubles point behind a strong performance from junior Neal Skupski and senior Sebastian Carlsson. The duo split the first four games of their match with Rice’s (5-2) Christian Saravia and Michael Nuesslein before reeling off six straight games to win the match, 8-2.   After sophomore Stefan Szacinski and junior Tom Knights dropped their doubles match, 8-3, sophomores Roger Anderson and Olivier Borsos bested Sam Garford-Bles and Peter Frank, 8-4, to put LSU on the scoreboard.   “The doubles point is real important,” said senior Julien Gauthier. “Those guys gave us the momentum that we needed going into singles.”   Gauthier rode the early momentum to an easy, 6-1, first set against Saravia. After falling behind, 4-1, in the second set. Gauthier roared back to win the second set and give LSU a 2-0 lead, bringing the home crowd to its feet.   “A hundred people can make a big difference in an individual sport, especially when they’re right behind the court,” Brown said. “Those things that come with a home court are nice.”   Borsos’ straight-set victory against Frank gave the Tigers a commanding 3-0 lead, but the fourth point didn’t come easy.   Skupski fell in straight sets to No. 44 Harry Fowler, and the final three matches of the day went the distance.   Carlsson battled back after a tough second set against Garford-Bles to claim the decisive set, 6-0, and get LSU into the win column for the first time in 2011.   “We’ve got a tough schedule,” Brown said. “You need to take any win you can get, especially against NCAA-type teams.”   The women’s team fell, 4-3, on the road to No. 34 Texas A&M on Sunday in College Station, Texas.   After losing the doubles point, the Tigers lost three of the first four singles matches providing Texas A&M with the winning margin.   The Lady Tigers are now 0-2 on the young season and face Rice in Houston on Tuesday.       ____ Contact Hunt Palmer at [email protected]