ATHENS, Ga. The 10th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team continues its run at the national title this Saturday when it faces No. 4 Illinois in the round of 16 of the NCAA Championships at 7 a.m. (CDT).
This is the 16th time in the past 17 years that the Tigers have reached the round of 16, including the sixth straight. In the 24 years of the tournament, LSU is tied for sixth with Pepperdine in the NCAA in trips to the Sweet 16, as both schools have made 17 appearances.
“We are eager to get started and to get this championship under way. It doesn’t feel like the end of our season is near, so I think our guys are ready to get a lot done this weekend,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “We are very focused. We have had some good practices here and everybody is on the same page. We are just going to go out and take it to Illinois and do the best that we can.”
LSU (20-5), the eleventh seed in the tournament, is looking for its third straight trip to the Final Four, while Illinois (24-3) will be attempting to end its SEC jinx in the championships. The Illini were ousted from the tournament by Ole Miss a year ago and Auburn the season before.
Leading LSU into battle will be seniors Tom Hand and Michal Chmela and junior Ajay Ramaswami. Hand and Chmela have been among the top players in the nation all season and are currently ranked 20th and 23rd respectively.
Ramaswami leads the team in dual match wins with 19 on the season and 19 dual doubles wins as well. He has the chance to become only the third player in the past decade to reach 20 wins in both singles and doubles in a season. He has just recently broken into the rankings and holds the No. 99 spot.
Chmela is also among the tops in the nation in doubles as he and Dan Kiernan are ranked No. 9.
Illinois, who has won 19 straight, will be led into the match by a pair of seniors in Cary Franklin and Jeff Laski. Franklin is ranked 13th in the nation while Laski is 68th. Each is part of a nationally ranked doubles team as Laski teams up with Jamal Parker as the 23rd ranked team in the country. Franklin and Graydon Oliver are ranked 25th together.
“Illinois is a very aggressive team that will be all over the net. We have a similar style in a lot of our positions so I think we match up very well with the, They are a very enthusiastic team as we are so it should be a good match
up.”