University of Tennessee Athletics
Tigers Hand Vols First SEC Loss, 4-1
March 24, 2001 | Men's Tennis
Baton Rouge, La. - LSU upset No. 6 Tennessee 4-1 Saturday at Baton Rouge. The loss drops Tennessee to 10-3 on the season and 3-1 in SEC play, while LSU moves to 11-3 overall and 4-2 in the SEC.
"All SEC road matches are tough," Tennessee head coach Michael Fancutt said. "LSU is a good team and we are still a little banged up so that makes for a tough combination. We are now just looking forward to going back home after six straight road matches. We had two guys that were up before play was suspended and I felt one or two of the matches we lost could have gone the other way. We are still right in the thick of things for the SEC title, we lost one along the way last year, but we still were able to grab a share of the conference title. It's a long season."
|
"LSU is a good team and we are still a little banged up so that makes for a tough combination. We are now just looking forward to going back home after six straight road matches."
|
The match was never really close as LSU started fast winning the only two completed doubles matches to take the doubles point. Doubles winners for the tigers included the 29th-ranked tandem of Daniel Kiernan and Sebastion Rutka in the No. 1 match and the pair of Anthony Mateljan and Ajay Ramaswami in the No. 3 match.
After taking the doubles point the Tigers won three of the four completed singles matches to get the victory. Singles winners for the Tigers included No. 10 Ramaswami over No. 44 Adam Carey at No. 1. No. 64 Kiernan defeated No. 80 Mark Parsons at No. 2, while Mateljan defeated Wade Orr in the No. 6 match.
The lone winner for the Vols was Peter Handoyo, who has been UT's most consistent player of late, winning his last seven matches. Handoyo defeated Sanjin Sadovich in the No. 3 match 7-6(5), 6-2. The win also keeps Handoyo undefeated for the year in dual matches. Tennessee's Paul Podbury (No. 74) and Mario Toledo (No. 62) were both up a set in their matches before they were suspended.
The loss dropped Tennessee's record against LSU to 18-20 all-time. Tennessee now stands at 8-3 versus ranked opponents in 2001.
The Vol netters will next be in action Wednesday against Kentucky at the Varsity Courts on the UT campus starting at 2 p.m (EST). Admission will be free.
| #26 LSU 4, #6 Tennessee 1 |
| Singles |
| 1. #10 Ajay Ramaswami (LSU) def. #44 Adam Carey (UT), 6-3, 6-4 |
| 2. #64 Dan Kiernan (LSU) def. #80 Mark Parson (UT), 6-4, 6-2 |
| 3. #33 Peter Handoyo (UT) def. Sanjin Sadovich (LSU), 7-6(5), 6-2 |
| 4. Jesse Smatt (LSU) vs. #74 Paul Podbury (UT), suspended |
| 5. Sebastian Rutka (LSU) vs. #62 Mario Toledo (UT), suspended |
| 6. Anthony Mateljan (LSU) def. Wade Orr (UT), 6-3, 6-1 |
|
Doubles |
| 1. #29 Kiernan/Rutka (LSU) def. Podbury/Toledo (UT), 8-6 |
| 2. #40 Smatt/Sadovich (LSU) vs. #12 Carey/Parsons (UT), suspended |
|
3. Mateljan/Ramaswami (LSU) def. Wade Orr/Simon Rea (UT), 8-6 |
