AUBURN, Ala. – Despite securing the doubles point, No. 17 Auburn men's tennis came out on the short end of a 4-1 decision against No. 46 LSU Friday evening in an SEC match played at the LSU Tennis Complex in Baton Rouge, La.
Auburn got off to a strong start in doubles, where Jan Galka and Billy Blaydes quickly put a 6-1 victory on the scoreboard against LSU's Stefan Latinovic and Welsh Hotard. After LSU picked up a victory on court three, Auburn clinched the team point when No. 29-ranked Raul Dobai and Finn Murgett defeated LSU's top tandem of Ronald Hohmann and Nick Watson, ranked No 90 nationally, by a 6-4 advantage.
In singles, LSU flipped the script, taking the first set in four of six matches and posting straight set wins on courts one, two, five and six. Julien Penzlin clinched the match for LSU on court six, winning a first-set tiebreaker 7-5 against Auburn's Billy Blaydes and then topping the AU freshman 6-3 in the second set to seal the victory.
Finn Murgett won his first set against No. 109 Chen Dong, but the Auburn All-American dropped a tight second set 7-5 and was in the third set when the team match was concluded. Auburn senior Jan Galka captured his first set as well, facing LSU's Welsh Hotard, but that match went unfinished as well.
Auburn is now 17-9 for the spring season and 5-6 in SEC action. LSU is now 13-9 overall and 3-8 in SEC play.Auburn concludes the regular season Sunday with a 1 p.m. match at No. 24 Texas A&M.
Auburn will host the 2023 SEC men's tennis championship tournament April 19-23 at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. All-tournament ticket books are on sale at aubtix.com. Daily tickets may be purchased on site.
#46 LSU 4, #17 Auburn 1
Singles
#80 Ronald Hohmann (LSU) def. #59 Tyler Stice (AU) 6-0, 6-4
Stefan Latinovic (LSU) def. #122 Alejandro Moreno (AU) 6-4, 6-1
Finn Murgett (AU) v #109 Chen Dong (LSU) 6-1, 7-5, 0-1 unfinished
Jan Galka (AU) v Welsh Hotard (LSU) 6-3, 5-6 unfinished
George Stoupe (LSU) def. Raul Dobai (AU) 6-4, 6-1
Julien Penzlin (LSU) def. Billy Blaydes (AU) (VU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
Doubles
#29 Murgett/Dobai (AU) def. #90 Hohmann/Nick Watson (LSU) 6-4
Galka/Blaydes (AU) def. Latinovic/Hotard (LSU) 6-1
Dong/Stoupe (LSU) def. Stice/Moreno (AU) 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles: 2,3,1; Singles: 2,5,1,6
