Mississippi State
LSU
Bulldogs Claim Second Straight Road Win With 5-2 Victory Over LSU
March 13, 2011 | Men's Tennis
"It was a great win for us and LSU is very tough on their home courts," Coach Nilsson said. "Our goal was to win both matches this weekend and we're excited to come home with two SEC road wins. They gave a great team effort in singles and we are seeing a lot of improvements in areas that we have been practicing on."
The Bulldogs dropped a hard-fought doubles point to trail early in the match but battled on the road in singles and claimed five of the six possible points in singles to claim the victory over the Tigers and avenged last season's heartbreaking 4-3 setback to LSU.
State dropped two of the three matches in doubles to give the Tigers the early advantage. MSU's George Coupland and James Chaudry fell, 8-5, on court two to Roger and Anderson and Stefan Szacinski of the Tigers. LSU clinched the doubles point on court one where State's Louis Cant and Malte Stropp dropped a hard-fought match to the No. 17 nationally ranked Tiger duo of Sebastian Carlsson and Neal Skupski, 8-5. At the No. 3 position, MSU's tandem of Artem Ilyushin and Zach White claimed a tiebreaker, 9-8(6), to defeat LSU's Olivier Borsos and Julien Gauthier.
MSU rebounded and evened the score at one-all with an identical-set victory by Bulldog freshman Stropp, who was the match-clinching point for the Maroon and White this past Friday at Arkansas. Stropp defeated LSU's Mark Bowtell, 6-4, 6-4 at the No. 4 position. Stropp extended his team-leading victory total to 15 on the season, improved to 7-2 in dual match play and is now 2-1 in league action.
No. 92 ranked Ilyushin of MSU earned an upset win at the No. 1 spot by taking down the Tigers 69th-ranked Skupski. Ilyushin claimed the opening set, 6-2, and trailed 4-1 in the second before rebounding and claiming the next five games to clinch the match and give State its first lead of the match, 2-1. The win was Ilyushin's first at the No. 1 position this season as he snapped a two-match losing streak and got back to .500 in conference play.
LSU tried to rally with a win at the No. 3 spot. State's Chaudry, who was a perfect 7-0 coming into Sunday's match, dropped the first dual match of his career with a two-set slip up to Szacinski of the Tigers, 7-5, 6-2. The loss snapped a nine-match winning streak for the sophomore from Southampton, England.
With three remaining points in the match the Bulldogs battled adversity and surged in a tremendous team effort to clinch the victory for the Maroon and White. At the No. 5 position, the Bulldogs 73rd-ranked Cant trailed 5-2 in the second set after claiming the opening set, 6-4, but battled back to win, 7-5, over LSU's Carlsson, to put MSU within one point of clinching the win. Cant has won two of his previous three matches and improved to 7-3 in dual match action and 3-1 in league play.
For the second-time this season MSU's Coupland clinched the match for the Maroon and White with a three-set victory. Coupland won the opening set over the Tigers' Borsos, 6-4, dropped the second set, 6-1, and was down, 4-3, in the third before taking over and clinching the victory for the Bulldogs. Coupland snapped a two-match skid and improved to .500 in conference matches.
With the match clinched MSU's favor, Bulldog freshman White rallied to win back-to-back tiebreakers in the second and third sets and give MSU the 5-2 victory. White defeated Gauthier of LSU, 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(2), and improved to 3-1 in SEC action while also claiming his 10th career victory as a Bulldog.
"Losing the doubles point and then coming back and winning five singles matches is very impressive, especially on the road," Coach Nilsson said. "It was a really great effort by our guys to stay focused no matter the score and battle the way they did."
It was only the fourth-time State has won at LSU, a team that defeated top 25 Ole Miss this past Friday, 4-2, and the 10th all-time victory for the Bulldogs over the Tigers. MSU also-snapped a five-match losing streak to the Tigers and it was Coach Nilsson's first career victory against the western division foe.
MSU will remain on the road next weekend as State faces the South Carolina Gamecocks next Saturday, Mar. 19, in Columbia, S.C.
#38 Mississippi State 5, #56 LSU 2
Baton Rouge, La. - 3/13/11
DOUBLES
No. 1 - #17 Sebastian Carlsson/Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Louis Cant/Malte Stropp (MSU) 8-5; No. 2 - Roger Anderson/Stefan Szacinski (LSU) def. James Chaudry/George Coupland (MSU) 8-5; No. 3 - Artem Ilyusin/Zach White (MSU) def. Olivier Borsos/Julien Gauthier (LSU) 9-8(6); (Order of Finish: 2,1,3).
SINGLES
No. 1 - #92 Ilyushin (MSU) def. #69 Skupski (LSU) 6-2, 6-4; No. 2 - Coupland (MSU) def. Borsos (LSU) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4; No. 3 - Szacinski (LSU) def. Chaudry (MSU) 7-5,6-2; No. 4 - Stropp (MSU) def. Mark Bowtell (LSU) 6-4, 6-4; No. 5 - #73 Cant (MSU) def. Carlsson (LSU) 6-4, 7-5; No. 6 - White (MSU) def. Gauthier (LSU) 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(2); (Order of Finish: 4,1,3,5,2,6).
Players Mentioned
