March 9, 2002

BATON ROUGE, LA –
After dropping the doubles point to Louisiana State, South Carolina’s men’s tennis team reeled off five straight singles victories to down the Tigers 5-2 Friday at LSU’s W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.

The win marks the second time in a week that the Gamecocks have defeated a ranked opponent in SEC play. USC is now 8-1 on the year and 2-1 in the SEC.

In doubles play, the nation’s No. 29 ranked doubles team of Angelo Niculescu and Marcus Westman picked up the lone USC victory, winning 9-8(2).

The Gamecocks answered LSU’s doubles victory by running off five-consecutive wins in singles play. South Carolina posted straight-set wins in positions 1-5. Seth Rose and David Nelson recorded victories over nationally ranked opponents from their No. 1 and No.3 positions respectively. Also claiming dominant victories were sophomores Carl Wermee and Marcus Westman, as well as junior Angelo Niculescu.

The Gamecocks will return to action on Sunday when they travel to Arkansas for a 2:00 p.m. contest.

#23 South Carolina 5, #21 LSU 2

Doubles
1. #29 Westman/Niculescu (USC) def. Kiernan/Rutka, 9-8(2)
2. Hazley/Smatt (LSU) def. Ben Atkinson/Nelson, 8-6
3. Fisher/Ross (LSU) def. Wermee/Rose, 8-6

Singles
1. Seth Rose (USC) def. #103 Dan Kiernan, 6-1, 6-2
2. Angelo Niculescu (USC) def. Peter Richman, 6-2, 6-2
3. David Nelson (USC) def. #105 Bryan Fisher, 7-6(4), 6-2
4. Marcus Westman (USC) def. Jesse Smatt, 6-3, 6-0
5. Carl Wermee (USC) def. Jason Hazley, 6-3, 6-2
6. Cory Ross (LSU) def. Rodrigo Pacheco, 7-6(3), 3-6, 1-0(7)