Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
LSU
Men's Tennis Takes Down No. 35 LSU 4-3
2/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 20, 2011
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Tripper Carleton knocked off a ranked opponent to earn the clinching match as the Wake Forest men's tennis team slipped by No. 35 LSU 4-3 at the Indoor Tennis Center Sunday.
The No. 37 Demon Deacons move back to .500 at 3-3 while the Tigers fall to 3-4.
The Deacs had jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but the final point would not come easily. 123rd-ranked Carlton's clinching win over No. 88 Neal Skupski at No. 1 made the score 4-1 in Wake's favor, and it proved to be an important one as LSU took the last two matches on the court.
"I think it's actually the first time that I've ever clinched a match," said Carleton. "I was looking around and saw that some of the other courts were struggling, so I kind of had in the back of my mind that it was going to come down to me."
"Tripper came up really big for us today. It's really nice having him at the No. 1 position," said head coach Jeff Zinn. "He's playing very well there, though he's still a bit of a work in progress. The kid he beat today was a good player, he made the NCAA singles tournament last year."
The Deacs got wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles positions to take a 1-0 lead. At No. 2, Jonathan Wolff and Danny Kreyman easily dispatched Tom Knights and Julien Gauthier 8-3. The clinching win came at No. 3, where David Hopkins and Zach Leslie powered past Olivier Borsos and Roger Anderson 8-5.
Iain Atkinson and Carleton came up just short of a big upset at No. 1 doubles, where they faced No. 14 Sebastian Carlsson and Neal Skupski. The Deacons broke to give Carleton a chance to serve for the match at 8-7, but the Tigers broke back sending the match to a tiebreak that LSU won 7-3.
The Deacs got two quick singles wins from Atkinson and Kreyman at the No. 4 and No. 3 positions to jump out to a 3-0 lead, but it was clear that all of the remaining matches would be tightly contested.
LSU got its first point of the day at No. 6, where Knights took two close sets from Conner Sherwood, 7-5, 6-4.
Carleton's match would be the next to finish, giving Wake the victory.
At No. 5, freshman Adam Lee put up a good fight, but squandered a 4-2 final set lead to fall 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. At No. 2, No. 67 Wolff dropped the first set, and after spotting his opponent a 3-0 lead, won six of the next seven games to take the second set 6-4. Since the match had been decided, a 10-point tiebreak was played with LSU's Olivier Borsos coming out on top 10-7.
The Demon Deacons will face their toughest test so far when they travel to Knoxville next weekend to face No. 3 Tennessee. Wake dropped a tough 4-3 decision to the Volunteers in Winston-Salem last season.
For up-to-the minute Wake Forest tennis news, follow the Deacs on Twitter @WakeTennis or twitter.com/WakeTennis
#37 Wake Forest 4, #35 LSU 3
Singles
1. #123 Tripper Carleton (WF) def. #88 Neal Skupski (LSU) 7-5, 6-4
2. Olivier Borsos (LSU) def. #67 Jonathan Wolff (WF) 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7)
3. Danny Kreyman (WF) def. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) 6-1, 6-3
4. Iain Atkinson (WF) def. Mark Bowtell (LSU) 6-3, 6-1
5. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Adam Lee (WF) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
6. Tom Knights (LSU) def. Conner Sherwood (WF) 7-5, 6-4
Doubles
1. #14 Neal Skupski/Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. Iain Atkinson/Tripper Carleton (WF) 9-8
2. Danny Kreyman/Jonathan Wolff (WF) def. Mark Bowtell/Stefan Szacinski (LSU) 8-3
3. David Hopkins/Zach Leslie (WF) def. Roger Anderson/Olivier Borsos (LSU) 8-5
Match Notes:
LSU 3-4; National ranking #35
Wake Forest 3-3; National ranking #37
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3*,1); Singles (4,3,6,1*,5,2)
A-79
Players Mentioned
