After a road victory against No. 25 Clemson on Friday, LSU Men’s Tennis had all the confidence it needed to defeat South Alabama and Jackson State in its home opener on Sunday.

The Tigers would start the double-header off with a clean 7-0 sweep against the Jaguars followed by a dominant serving performance against a struggling Jackson State team.

LSU freshman Erik Arutiunian and senior Matias Ponce De Leon would be the dynamic duo on court two, elevating their matchup with powerful serves that would be too much for Jackson State’s duo to handle on the other side of the net.

Not only did Arutiunian and Ponce De Leon find success early on, but also the two other doubles pairs for LSU, allowing the Tigers to take the first team point over Jackson State.

Head coach Danny Bryan emphasized how despite coming off of a game against South Alabama hours before this matchup, LSU’s serving success helped elevate its performance in the long run.

“It’s (serves) huge in all the matches,” Bryan said. “Especially in courts one and two, we have guys with really big serves. So, that’s the strengths of their game, and it’s the most important shot in tennis. They were definitely serving well. We played very solid and took care of business.”

Bryan, now entering his fourth year as head coach for LSU, knew that Jackson State would come out of the break looking for a fresh start ahead of the singles matches.

However, that didn’t stop LSU’s momentum. Nearing halfway through all the six singles matchups, the Tigers were lighting up the scoreboard, ultimately leading them to a 7-0 home victory over Jackson State.

Five of LSU’s six players on the court would finish their individual matchups within the first two sets, with Arutiunian being the star performer for the Tigers on court one.

Arutiunian, a 6 foot 3 freshman from Belarus, noted that this early success at home was all because of Friday’s road performance against Clemson.

“I think the Clemson match gave us so much confidence,”Arutiunian said. “That’s why we won two matches today so easy.”

LSU (3-0) will look to keep this momentum going with its squad as the team travels to play No. 11 Arizona in Tucson on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT.