March 28, 2008
BATON ROUGE, La. – The South Carolina men’s tennis team suffered a 6-1 setback to No. 19 LSU on Friday in Southeastern Conference play. The Gamecocks fall to 8-9, 0-7 in league action with the loss, while LSU improves to 10-6, with a 3-4 SEC tally. Sophomore Diego Cubas picked up Carolina’s lone singles victory of the day, upsetting No. 92 Jan Zelezny in straight sets.
LSU took early control of the match by gaining the doubles point. The team of James Cluskey and Michael Venus of LSU defeated Carolina’s Pedro Campos and Yevgeny Supeko, 8-4, on court one to gain the upperhand. South Carolina’s Ivan Cressoni and Diego Cubas battled at No. 2, however, Kevin Dessauer and Colt Gaston collected an 8-5 victory to secure the point for the Tigers.
Singles competition saw LSU continue to dominate. Venus defeated Supeko in straight sets at No. 1, 6-3, 6-4 and Cluskey followed with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Cressoni on court five to extend the Tiger lead to 3-0. Wolff battled on court six, however, Carlsson eventually clinched the match for LSU with a 7-5, 6-2 win.
Cubas played a solid match at No. 2 singles, upsetting No. 92 Jan Zelezny, 6-4, 7-5, for Carolina’s lone point of the match. Pulsfort and Campos also suffered a loss in their respective singles match.
South Carolina concludes weekend action at Arkansas on Sunday. The match is slated to begin at 2 p.m. (ET).
LSU 6, South Carolina 1
Doubles:
1. James Cluskey/Michael Venus (LSU) def. Pedro Campos/Yevgeny Supeko (USC), 8-4
2. Kevin Dessauer/Colt Gaston (LSU) def. Ivan Cressoni/Diego Cubas (USC), 8-5
3. Sebastian Carlosson/Jan Zelezny (LSU) vs. Thomas Stoddard/Johannes Pulsfort (USC), unfinished
Order of finish: 1, 2
Singles:
1. #74 Michael Venus def. Yevgeny Supeko, 6-3, 6-4
2. Diego Cubas def. #92 Jan Zelezny, 6-4, 7-5
3. Colt Gaston def. Pedro Campos, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 10-2
4. Kevin Dessauer def. Johannes Pulsfort, 4-6, 6-4, 10-8
5. James Cluskey def. Ivan Cressoni, 6-4, 6-2
6. Sebastian Carlsson def. David Wolff, 7-5, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 5, 6, 2, 4, 3
