BATON ROUGE, La. - Thomas Estrada and Jamal Adderley each picked up three-set victories as the No. 34 University of South Florida men's tennis team fell to the No. 26 Louisiana State University Tigers, 5-2, at the Dub Robinson Tennis Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.
The USF tandem of Lucas Jovita and Diego Toledo kept the Bulls within striking distance of the doubles point, taking the match at the No. 2 spot. Down 1-0 in the best-of-three doubles match, Jovita and Toledo defeated Colt Gaston and Jan Zelezny, 9-7, knotting the doubles portion of the contest up at 1-1. The win improved Jovita and Toledo's doubles record to a perfect 5-0 on the season.
The No. 3 doubles match was a see-saw battle between the Tigers and the Bulls, but the team of Sebastian Carlsson and Kevin Dessauer proved too much for USF's Michael Nusslein and Jamal Adderley, losing the close match, 8-5.
USF is 9-0 when winning the doubles point and 0-4 when falling behind their opponent after doubles competition.
The match was closer then the score shows as three Bulls took LSU into a third set with the Bulls coming out on top in two of those three matches. The Bulls (9-4) ultimately dropped the match to the Tigers, 5-2.
Freshman Jamal Adderley picked up his 10th victory of the season, defeating Julien Gauthier, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 at the No. 3 singles spot. The win brings Adderley's record to 10-2 on the dual-match season, going 3-0 and 7-2 at the No. 2 and No. 3 singles positions respectively. Adderley is 2-1 on the season against SEC opponents.
Thomas Estrada picked up USF's second victory at the No. 4 spot, defeating James Cluskey, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. The sophomore out of Mediellin, Colombia, won his seventh-straight match on the season and is an overall 10-2 on the dual-match season.
USF will have a week off before it kicks off a five-match home stand against the Cornell Big Red on Wednesday, March 19 at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts. The first serve is set for 2 p.m.
NCAA Men's Tennis
No. 26 LSU 5, No. 34 USF 2
Dub Robinson Tennis Stadium
Baton Rouge, La.
Doubles
1. Cluskey/Venus (LSU) def. Daudt/Estrada (USF), 8-1
2. Jovita/Toledo (USF) def. Gaston/Zelezny (LSU), 9-7
3. Carlsson/Dessauer (LSU) def. Nusslein/Adderley (USF), 8-5
Order of Finish ? 1, 2, 3
Singles
1. No. 86 Michael Venus (LSU) def. No. 78 Lucas Jovita (USF), 6-4, 6-3
2. Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Mahmoud Hamed (USF), 7-5, 6-4
3. Jamal Adderley (USF) def. Julien Gauthier (LSU), 6-2, 2-6, 6-4
4. Thomas Estrada (USF) def. James Cluskey (LSU), 2-6, 7-5, 6-3
5. Kevin Dessauer (LSU) def. Michael Nusslein (USF), 6-0, 4-6, 6-1
6. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. Diego Toledo (USF), 7-5, 7-6
Order of Finish ? 1, 2, 3, 6, 5, 4
