Rice University
# 26 LSU
No. 17 Men's Tennis Falls to No. 26 LSU
3/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 18, 2008
HOUSTON - The No 17 Rice men's tennis team lost a 4-2 decision to No. 26 LSU Tuesday afternoon at the MET. The match was moved indoors due to the rainy conditions at Jake Hess Stadium.
The Owls (9-5) dropped the doubles point as LSU's (9-4) top two pairs won convincing decisions. The Tigers got a big lift from No. 1 pair Michael Venus and James Cluskey, who upended No. 16 ranked Ralph Knupfer and Christoph Müller 8-3 for their fifth straight win.
Colt Gaston and Kevin Dessauer secured the 1-0 lead for LSU with an 8-2 victory over Chong Wang and Filip Zivojinovic in the No 2 match.
"It was one of those matches that was very close where a couple of points turned the momentum," head coach Ron Smarr said. "LSU has a good team that took No. 2 Ohio State the distance last week. We didn't capatilize on the chances we had. I was proud of our how we competed in singles."
The Tigers went ahead 2-0 as James Cluskey defeated Wang 7-6 (5), 6-1 at the No. 4 position.
No. 26 ranked Rosa anchored the top spot and pulled Rice within 2-1 by turning in a 7-6 (4), 6-1 win over No. 92 ranked Jan Zelezny.
Julien Gauthier swung the momentum back to LSU and knocked off Knupfer 6-3, 7-6 (3) at No. 3 to make it 3-1.
Zivojinovic gutted out a 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Dessauer in the No. 5 hole to bring Rice back to 3-2.
No. 49 ranked Müller had a pair of match points against No. 74 ranked Venus in the No. 2 match. Venus charged back for a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory to clinch the win for LSU.
At the bottom of the lineup, Dennis Polyakov was even with Sebastian Carlsson 6-4, 4-6, 3-3 when play was stopped.
The Owls play host to the 46th annual Rice Invitational this weekend. Rice faces off with No. 49 Iowa, No. 72 Middle Tennessee State and No. 67 San Diego. All matches begin at noon and admission is free to Jake Hess Stadium all weekend.
Players Mentioned
