Monday, 02/25/2013

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The No. 24 LSU men's tennis team (5-2) ended their first double-header of the season with a 6-1 victory over Wright State (6-6) at the Varsity Tennis Center.

"It was a good day to see where we want to get to," LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. "It was also good to build a little confidence."

LSU quickly won the doubles point to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead over the Raiders.

On court three, Olivier Borsos and Boris Arias defeated Wright State's Ricardo Pineda and Evan Neuman 8-2. LSU's Roger Anderson and Tam Trinh clinched the doubles point for the Tigers on court one with an 8-5 win over Jamison Clark and Hayden Joblin. The match on court two between LSU's #35 Chris Simpson and Stefan Szacinski and Wright State's Lauri Makikalli and Michal Lyzwa was left unfinished with the Tigers leading 6-4.

LSU took advantage of their momentum from doubles and dominated the singles matches.

On court six, LSU's Arias defeated Myles Harris of Wright State 6-1, 6-1 to push the Tigers' lead to 2-0. The lead was extended to 3-0 by LSU's Borsos on court three when he bested the Raiders' Pineda 6-4, 6-2.

LSU freshman Harrison Kennedy came through with a win on court five over Wright State's Clark 7-5, 6-2 to clinch the match. This is Kennedy's second match clincher in just his third match of the season.

LSU's Trinh lost to Wright State's Makikalli 3-6, 1-6 on court one to give the Raiders their first and only point of the afternoon. Mark Bowtell extended the Tigers' lead to 5-1 on court four when he bested Lyzwa 7-5, 6-3. Immediately after Bowtell's win, LSU's Simpson finished off the day with a 7-5, 6-3 victory on court two against Wright State's Joblin.

The Tigers are on the road again this weekend for their SEC opener at Vanderbilt on Friday, March 1 at 2 p.m. CT.

For up-to-date information and behind the scenes access on the Tigers, fans can follow the LSU men's team on Twitter @lsutennis and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsutennis.

LSU Head Coach Jeff Brown quotes
 
On today's doubleheader...
"Overall it was a good day for the experience of our guys as far as playing indoors. There's a chance we could get pulled into indoor courts next week against Vanderbilt and Kentucky. It was a good day to see where we want to get to. It was also good to build a little confidence after we were beaten down a little bit. We look forward to SEC play next week."