Bulldog Netters Fall 7-0 To #19 LSU
The Tigers won all three doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead inthe match. On the #1 court, the 12th-ranked duo of Mark Growcott and KenSkupski defeated State's Ivan Bjelica and Jose-Carlos Pinto 8-4. At the #2spot, the 14th-ranked tandem of Danny Bryant and Colt Gaston were victorious8-1 over MSU's Florent Girod and Pierre Mouillon. At court #3, Tigers JamesCluskey and Paul White edged out Bulldogs Josh Irey and Ryan Farlow 8-7 in atiebreaker. The Bulldogs looked as if they could make a comeback when Mouillon andGirod won their first sets in singles action, but LSU quickly closed out anyhope of that in the other four singles matches. At the #2 position,Mouillon won the first set over LSU's Gaston 6-4, but could not hold on asGaston won the final two sets 6-3, 6-4. On the #4 court, Girod won his firstset 6-4 but dropped the final two to Growcott 6-3, 6-3. On court #1,State's Bjelica battled 22nd-ranked Skupski to three sets before falling6-4, 3-6, 6-1. MSU's Pinto dropped his match to LSU's Bryant 7-6, 6-2 atthe #3 spot while Bulldog Frayssinoux fell to LSU's Cluskey 6-3, 6-4 oncourt #5. MSU freshman Farlow fell on court #6 to LSU's Martel Campbell6-1, 6-3 to give the Tigers their seventh point. LSU moved to 13-7 overall and 6-2 in SEC play with the win. The Tigersnow lead the series with State 28-8-1 since the 1969 season. The loss to LSUwas State's fifth straight in the series. State's next action will come Friday (April 7) when the Bulldogs returnhome to host top-ranked Georgia as part of MSU's Super Bulldog Weekendfestivities. The match is set to begin at 2 p.m. CT at the A.J. Pitts TennisCentre on the MSU campus.
#19 LSU 7, #57 Mississippi State 0
4/2/06
BATON ROUGE, La.
Doubles - #12 Growcott/Skupski (LSU) def. Bjelica/Pinto (MSU) 8-4; #14Bryan/Gaston (LSU) def. Girod/Mouillon (MSU) 8-1; Cluskey/White (LSU) def.Farlow/Irey (MSU) 8-7
Singles - #22 Ken Skupski (LSU) def. Ivan Bjelica (MSU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1; ColtGaston (LSU) def. Pierre Mouillon (MSU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Danny Bryant (LSU)def. Jose-Carlos Pinto (MSU) 7-6, 6-2; Mark Growcott (LSU) def. FlorentGirod (MSU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; James Cluskey (LSU) def. Philippe Frayssinoux(MSU) 6-3, 6-4; Martel Campbell (MSU) def. Ryan Farlow (MSU) 6-1, 6-3.