WACO — UTSA saw the most successful dual match season in program history come to an end with a 4-0 setback to LSU in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship on Friday afternoon at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
Making their fourth NCAA postseason appearance, the No. 3 seed and 59th-ranked Roadrunners finished with a 17-9 dual-match record, the most wins in school history. The second-seeded and No. 29 Tigers improved to 18-8 and will face No. 2 national seed Baylor or Bryant in the second round on Saturday.
Both teams were faced with a 42-minute rain delay before finally starting outdoors at the Hurd Tennis Center. During doubles play the match was moved indoors, resulting in an additional 26-minute stoppage.
When play resumed, LSU closed out the doubles point with wins on the second and third courts.
Justin Butsch and Chris Simpson scored an 8-2 decision against Jake Rother and Joel Rubio at No. 3, and Andrew Korinek and Tam Trinh clinched the 1-0 lead with an 8-3 triumph over Diogo Casa and Yannick Junger.
On center court, UTSA’s No. 78-ranked doubles tandem of Tito Moreiras and Tomas Stillman battled to within 7-5 of LSU’s No. 14 duo of Boris Arias and Jordan Daigle before the match was called with the clinching decision at No. 2.
In singles, the Tigers claimed wins at three courts to end the match.
Simpson posted a 6-2, 6-2 sweep of Junger at No. 2 and Arias dispatched Moreiras, 6-2, 6-4, at the third position. Butsch then secured the win with a 6-4, 7-5 victory against Casa at No. 6.
“It was definitely a very good season, but it’s sad to see it come to an end,” fifth-year head coach Jeff Kader said. “I’m glad our guys got to experience this for their last match. It was definitely a great run.
“I thought we played well. We had a couple opportunities with some momentum going our way, but LSU was able to kind of stifle that and take advantage. LSU is a great team and we wish them the best of luck.”
Stillman’s final campaign will continue in the NCAA Championships singles competition. The 64-player bracket is scheduled for May 20-25 in Waco.
#29 LSU 4, #59 UTSA 0
Doubles
1. #14 Arias/Daigle (LSU) vs. #78 Moreiras/Stillman (UTSA) 7-5, unfinished
2. Korinek/Trinh (LSU) def. Casa/Junger (UTSA) 8-3
3. Butsch/Simpson (LSU) def. Rother/Rubio (UTSA) 8-2
Singles
1. #76 Jordan Daigle (LSU) vs. #70 Tomas Stillman (UTSA) 5-7, 5-2, unfinished
2. Chris Simpson (LSU) def. Yannick Junger (UTSA) 6-2, 6-2
3. Boris Arias (LSU) def. Tito Moreiras (UTSA) 6-2, 6-4
4. Tam Trinh (LSU) vs. Joel Rubio (UTSA) 6-2, 3-5, unfinished
5. Andrew Korinek (LSU) vs. Joao Riquelme (UTSA) 4-6, 6-3, unfinished
6. Justin Butsch (LSU) def. Diogo Casa (UTSA) 6-4, 7-5
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (2,3,6)