BATON ROUGE — In the preseason rankings released on Tuesday by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, the LSU men’s tennis team is ranked second, behind only UCLA.
“We worked hard in the fall to earn this ranking and we will have to work even harder to take the next step up,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown.
The No. 2 ranking is the highest for LSU since the end of the 1998 season when the Tigers finished ranked second behind national champion Stanford. Twice before LSU has been ranked No. 1, in 1998 and ten years earlier in 1988. This ranking also marks the highest preseason ranking ever for an LSU tennis team.
UCLA reclaims the top spot, which it held for all of the spring season a year ago until finishing second behind national champion Georgia. The Bruins beat LSU in the national semifinal to force the match up with the Bulldogs.
LSU is the highest ranked Southeastern Conference team heading into the season as the Tigers look to win its third consecutive conference title. However, stiff competition awaits the second-ranked squad as each of the SEC’s 12 schools is ranked in the top 39, including five of the top nine in the nation.
“This is by far the toughest conference in the nation,” said Brown. “For us to win our third straight conference championship will take a total team effort.”
Individually, seniors Tom Hand and Michal Chmela earned rankings of 13th and 15th respectively. The No. 13 spot is a career high for Hand who began the fall ranked No. 21. Hand propelled himself into the position by winning three tournament titles in the fall season.
Chmela, preseason No. 1 in the nation in 1998, falls to 15th from 13th after playing in only one fall tournament, a semifinal finish in the ITA All-American.
“Tom and Michal are two of the top players in the nation and have been great leaders on and off the court for us. We hope to send them off with a team championships which will lead to high individual honors for each of them.”
In doubles, the Tigers had two teams ranked. The English twosome of Daniel Kiernan and Hand placed in at No. 20 after winning the ITA Region III Championships in November. Anthony Mateljan and Ajay Ramaswami also earned a spot in the top 50 at No. 43.
ITA Men’s Tennis Preseason Rankings
| Rank School | First-Place Votes | Votes |
| 1 UCLA | (27) | 2,609 |
| 2 LSU | (4) | 2,568 |
| 3 Stanford | (12) | 2,553 |
| 4 Duke | 2,509 | |
| 5 Florida | (2) | 2,488 |
| 6 Mississippi | 2,444 | |
| 7 Baylor | 2,389 | |
| 8 Georgia | (1) | 2,359 |
| 9 Tennesseee | 2,294 | |
| 10 Illinois | 2,275 | |
| 11 Southern California | 2,258 | |
| 12 SMU | 2,251 | |
| 13 VCU | 2,239 | |
| 14 Mississippi State | 2,134 | |
| 15 South Carolina | 2,130 | |
| 16 TCU | 2,126 | |
| 17(tie) Fresno State | 2,064 | |
| 17(tie) Texas A&M | 2,064 | |
| 19 Kentucky | 2,041 | |
| 20 Texas | 1,980 | |
| 21 Pepperdine | 1,907 | |
| 22 Notre Dame | 1,825 | |
| 23 Virginia | 1,802 | |
| 24 Auburn | 1,761 | |
| 25 Harvard | 1,759 |