TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Virginia Tech men's tennis team was edged by LSU, 4-3 on Friday afternoon in a neutral site match in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Tech (1-1) opened the match with a doubles win on court one as Henrik Korsgaard and Alex Ribeiro paired up for the 6-3 decision. The Tigers claimed the point on two, leaving court three as the deciding match.
Mitch Harper and Carlo Donato went back and forth with the Tigers Boris Kozlov and Nick Watson as the match went into a tiebreaker. The LSU pair held on to win it 7-6(4), giving the Tigers the 1-0 advantage heading into singles.
Tech got on the board in singles after Harper rolled to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Ronald Hohmann on court two. The Tigers reclaimed the lead with a win at six, but Korsgaard picked up the 6-4, 7-6(4) win over Malik Bhatnagar on one.
The Hokies pulled ahead 3-2 after Donato rallied on five. After dropping the first set 6-1 to Watson, Donato came back to win the second in a tiebreak 7-6(1). In the final set, the Hokies junior rolled to the 6-1 win.
Ribeiro and Perez forced third sets in their matches, but the Tigers were able to hold on to win the matches at three and four to secure the win.
The Hokies will be back on the court Sunday as they face host-team Alabama in a 1 p.m. match.
Singles
1. Henrik Korsgaard (VT) def. Malik Bhatnagar (LSU) 6-4, 7-6(4)
2. Mitch Harper (VT) def. Ronald Hohmann (LSU) 6-2, 6-3
3. #85 Boris Kozlov (LSU) def. Alex Ribeiro (VT) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
4. Rafael Wagner (LSU) def. Brandon Perez (VT) 7-6(11), 3-6, 6-2
5. Carlo Donato (VT) def. Nick Watson (LSU) 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-1
6. Joey Thomas (LSU) def. Matthis Ross (VT) 6-4, 6-2
Order of finish: 2,6,1,5,3,4
Doubles
1. Korsgaard/Ribeiro (VT) def. Thomas/Daniel Moreno (LSU) 6-3
2. Wagner/Hohmann (LSU) def. Perez/Ryan Kros (VT) 6-4
3. Kozlov/Watson (LSU) def. Harper/Donato (VT) 7-6(4)
Order of finish: 1,2,3