BATON ROUGE, La. – Facing one of the top teams in the nation, the Nicholls State University men's tennis team put up a valiant effort in doubles play against No. 35 LSU, but the Tigers proved to be too strong as the Colonels fell 7-0 on Friday night at the LSU Tennis Complex.
 
After falling 6-0 in No. 1 doubles, Nicholls (1-3) went point-for-point with LSU (3-1) on the other two courts, threatening to take a 1-0 lead The Colonels led on both courts midway through, but LSU fought back to win No. 3 and claim the doubles point.
 
Bernard Wezeman and Sam Meessen came up short against Justin Butsch and Nikola Samardzic, 7-5, while on the No. 2 court, Evan Karatzas and Max Sinn's match was tied at 5-5 when play was suspended.
 
In singles, LSU won all five completed matches in straight sets, and earned a win at No. 6 by default. Kieran Cronin had the best showing for the Colonels at No. 2, falling 6-4, 6-4 to Boris Arias. Sinn was defeated at No. 3, 6-3 in both sets, while Meessen and Oscar Reeve lost 6-1, 6-2 at 4 and 5, respectively.
 
Karatzas fell in the top match against Butsch, 6-1, 6-3.
 
The Colonels will head to Georgia for their next three matches, playing Jacksonville State (2/26), Georgia Southern (2/26) and Armstrong State (2/27).
 
#35 LSU 7, Nicholls 0

Singles
1. Justin Butsch (LSU) def. Evan Karatzas (NICM) 6-1, 6-3
2. Boris Arias (LSU) def. Kieran Cronin (NICM) 6-4, 6-4
3. Simon Freund (LSU) def. Max Sinn (NICM) 6-3, 6-3
4. Gabor Csonka (LSU) def. Sam Meessen (NICM) 6-1, 6-2
5. Nikola Samardzic (LSU) def. Oscar Reeve (NICM) 6-1, 6-2
6. Tam Trinh (LSU) def. Bernard Wezeman (NICM), by default

Doubles
1. #25 Boris Arias/Jordan Daigle (LSU) def. Oscar Reeve/Kieran Cronin (NICM) 6-0
2. Evan Karatzas/Max Sinn (NICM) vs. Simon Freund/Gabor Csonka (LSU) no result
3. Justin Butsch/Nikola Samardzic (LSU) def. Bernard Wezeman/Sam Meessen (NICM) 7-5

Match Notes:
Nicholls 1-3
LSU 3-1; National ranking #35
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (5,4,1,3,2)
A-130