March 23, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – The No. 55 University of South Carolina men’s tennis team dropped a tough 4-0 match to No. 10 LSU Friday afternoon, at the Sam Daniel Tennis Facility in Columbia. With the loss, the Gamecocks fall to 10-7, (1-4 SEC) while the Tigers improve to 12-2, (4-1 SEC).
In doubles play, the Gamecocks got off to a sluggish start, quickly falling behind 3-0 on all three courts. At second doubles, Thomas Stoddard and Joseph Veeder battled back to claim one game, before falling 8-1 to the nation’s 5th best doubles team in Colt Gaston and Danny Bryan. At third doubles, the duo of Ivan Cressoni and David Wolff also fought their way back, making it a competitive match with Jan Zelezny and Kevin Dessauer. Despite a courageous effort, the Carolina tandem eventually fell, 8-4. The match of the day for the Gamecocks came at No. 1 doubles. Yevgeny Supeko, and Pedro Campos, who found themselves down 4-1 to #14 Ken Skupski and James Cluskey, also clawed their way back into the match and eventually took a 7-5 lead. With the pair one game shy of the upset victory, the match was called after LSU clinched the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles spots and the doubles point.
With the start of singles play, the Gamecocks continued to show they could hang with a top-10 team. All six matches began competitively with, both Pedro Campos and Spencer Feldman taking the first set at the No. 3 and No. 6 spots, respectively. At No. 1 singles, Pedro Rodrigues was also able to take an early lead, going up 1-0 and then 2-1 against No. 24 Skupski. The senior could not hold the lead, eventually falling 6-2, 6-2.
At fifth singles David Wolff also played well, making a match with the Tigers’ Zelezny. The freshman took four games in the first set before dropping the second, 6-1.
The final Gamecock to fall was Yevgeny Supeko. Playing No. 2 singles, the junior hung with the Tigers’ 44th-ranked Bryan. Supeko managed to claim four games in the first set, before eventually falling 6-4, 6-2. The loss is the first of the spring season for Supeko, and snaps a 14-match winning streak dating back to the fall.
With the three singles victories, LSU clinched the match 4-0. The three remaining matches were called and left unfinished, including both Feldman’s and Campos’. The fourth singles match between Cressoni and Kevin Dessauer was also in progress when the match was called.
The Gamecocks will return to action on Sunday at 1 p.m. when they play host to the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. The match is free and open to the public, and live stats will be available on USCsports.com
Doubles
No. 1 Supeko/Campos (USC) vs # 14 Skupski/Cluskey (LSU) (unfinished)
No. 2 # 5 Bryan/Gaston (LSU) def Stoddard/Veeder (USC), 8-1
No. 3 Zelezny/Dessauer (LSU) def Cressoni/Wolff (USC), 8-4
Doubles order of finish, 2, 3, 1
Singles
No. 1 # 24 Ken Skupski (LSU) def Pedro Rodrigues (USC), 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 # 44 Danny Bryan (LSU) def Yevgeny Supeko (USC), 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 Pedro Campos (USC) vs. Colt Gaston (LSU) (unfinsished)
No. 4 Ivan Cressoni (USC) vs. Kevin Dessauer (unfinished)
No. 5 Jan Zelezny (LSU) def David Wolff (USC), 6-4, 6-1
No. 6 Spencer Feldman (USC) vs. James Cluskey (LSU) (unfinished)
Singles order of finish, 1, 5, 2
