COLUMBIA, S.C. – In a disappointing turn of events, the UofL men’s tennis team suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling to LSU 4-2 at ITA Kickoff Weekend. It was a closely contested match with both teams giving it their all.
In the doubles competition, LSU’s duo of Stefan Latinovic and Chen Dong defeated Etienne Donnet and Natan Rodrigues at the top spot. The Tigers went on to clinch the doubles point after beating Will Mayew and Piet Steveker. However, Miguel Avendaño and Andre’ Steinbach managed to win the lone doubles match for the Cards, defeating Julien Penzlin and Alessio Vasquez.
Moving on to singles action, LSU’s Julien Penzlin defeated Miguel Avendaño in a hard-fought match at the No. 6 spot. The Cardinals managed to earn their first point of the match when the No. 56 ranked player, Will Mayew, took down George Stoupe.
Unfortunately, the Tigers took control in the next singles point as Andre’ Steinbach fell to Rudy Ceccon. But the Cardinals fought back, pulling within one point as Natan Rodrigues defeated Chen Dong.
In a nail-biting match on Court 5, Kosuke Nakanishi battled fiercely but couldn’t complete the comeback, falling to Welsh Hotard. This secured the overall win for the LSU Tigers.
The Cards will have another chance to redeem themselves as they conclude ITA Kickoff Weekend with a lone match against Clemson tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. ET.
LSU emerged victorious with a score of 4-2 against the Louisville Men’s Tennis team. The match took place on January 27th, 2024, at the Carolina Tennis Center in Columbia, S.C.
Here are the results of the singles matches:
– #16 Etienne Donnet (LOU-MT) vs. Stefan Latinovic (LSU): 7-6 (7-3), 5-5, unfinished
– Natan Rodrigues (LOU-MT) def. Chen Dong (LSU): 6-3, 6-0
– Rudy Ceccon (LSU) def. Andre’ Steinbach (LOU-MT): 6-0, 6-3
– #56 Will Mayew (LOU-MT) def. George Stoupe (LSU): 6-4, 6-3
– Welsh Hotard (LSU) def. Kosuke Nakanishi (LOU-MT): 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
– Julien Penzlin (LSU) def. Miguel Avendano (LOU-MT): 6-0, 6-3
Here are the results of the doubles matches:
– Stefan Latinovic/Chen Dong (LSU) def. Etienne Donnet/Natan Rodrigues (LOU-MT): 6-4
– George Stoupe/Welsh Hotard (LSU) def. Will Mayew/Piet Steveker (LOU-MT): 6-4
– Miguel Avendano/Andre’ Steinbach (LOU-MT) def. Julien Penzlin/Alessio Vasquez (LSU): 6-3
It was a well-fought match by both teams, with LSU emerging as the winners. The order of finish was doubles (1,2,3) followed by singles (6,4,3,2,5).
