LSU Eliminates Men’s Tennis From NCAA Tournament

May 14, 2000

BATON ROUGE, La –With a 4-0 win over Clemson on Sunday afternoon, 10th-ranked LSU advances to the third round of the NCAA tournament to be held in Athens, Ga. It is the 17th time that LSU has earned a trip to the championships, which is seventh best in the NCAA. The win, LSU’s 20th, gives the Tigers three consecutive 20-win seasons for only the third time in school history. The loss marks the second straight year that Clemson has been defeated in the second round of the tournament. Clemson finishes its season with a record of 18-17.

Jesse Smatt’s 6-3, 6-3 victory over Marko Gojanovic clinched the win for LSU. Clemson never could get on track as they lost the first two doubles matches and the single doubles point. In singles, LSU won at the No. 3, No. 4, and No. 6 positions. After Smatt’s clinching victory, the other three singles matches were suspended. Clemson will return four of six starters in singles next year. Tomasz Boniecki and Luis Garcia played in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions respectively and are the only two seniors on this years Clemson roster.

Quotes from LSU head coach Jeff Brown: “Clemson is a very good team and you know they are always going to fight to the end. There is not going to be any gimmies although Ajay Ramaswami took care of business on his court. But that is as badly as you will beat one of their players. Jesse came back on his court from 3-0 in the second set. Had he not done that, we might still be out there. Jesse having done that allowed us to get the four points rather quickly.”

Quotes from Clemson head coach Chuck Kriese: “Every guy on our team tried as hard as they could. I think it basically comes down to this: They have too many guys that have been there before. Our guys were hoping to win but LSU’s guys have been there before and their Final Four experience paid off. There were critical times where the momentum could have swung our way, but they shut us down.”

LSU 4, CLEMSON 0

SINGLES No. 1 – Michal Chmela (LSU) vs. Josh Goffi (CU), suspended No. 2 – Tom Hand (LSU) vs. Tomasz Boniecki (CU), suspended No. 3 – Ajay Ramaswami (LSU) def. Luis Garcia (CU), 6-0, 6-2 No. 4 – Dan Kiernan (LSU) def. Brad Emendorfer (CU), 6-4, 6-1 No. 5 – Ed Rubin (LSU) vs. Micah Thompson (CU), suspended No. 6 – Jesse Smatt (LSU) vs. Marko Gojanovic (CU), 6-3, 6-3*

DOUBLES No. 1 – Chmela-Kiernan (LSU) def. Goffi-Knight (CU), 8-6 No. 2 – Hand-Rubin (LSU) def. Boniecki-Gojanovic (CU), 8-5* No. 3 – Ramaswami-Smatt (LSU) vs. Cohn-Garcia (CU), suspended

* denotes clinching match